The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to direct the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to reopen its portal for the re-evaluation of Class 12 answer sheets following complaints over the On-Screen Marking (OSM) system.

Under OSM, evaluators assess scanned copies of physical answer sheets on computers instead of checking the original scripts.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana observed that the portal had been open to all candidates for a specified period and that reopening it could lead to fresh claims.

“Why should we direct them to open this window again for you? If you don’t use the bus, you miss the bus. The window was open for everyone for a specified period,” the CJI said.

The petitioner’s counsel sought an additional week, claiming that the website had crashed and prevented several students from applying for on-screen verification.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for CBSE, informed the court that 1.68 lakh students had successfully applied during the notified period. He also said that the Delhi High Court had dismissed a similar challenge.

The plea challenged CBSE’s introduction of the OSM system, alleging irregularities such as missing pages in scanned answer sheets, illegible scans and answers or pages being left unevaluated.

Inputs from PTI

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