Can’t declare student ineligible if documents not scrutinised: HC

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 15

In a significant judgment, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has made it clear that a student cannot be declared ineligible in the absence of proper scrutiny of documents by the CBSE at the time of his admission.

The Bench has ruled that it was incumbent upon the CBSE and another respondent to peruse the documents of the petitioner-student when he took the admission to Class XI. As a petition by Rohit Kapoor came up for hearing, Justice Sudhir Mittal was told that the petitioner took Class XII exam this year. But the result was not declared. He was declared “not eligible”, resulting in the filing of the petition.

Justice Mittal observed the student took his Class X exam at the Ludhiana centre of Grameen Mukt Vidhyalayi Shiksha Sansthan in July 2018. He took admission to Class XI in a school in 2019 on the basis of a migration-cum-transfer certificate before he was promoted to Class XII in 2020. The form for taking the Class XII exam was filled and roll number issued by the CBSE. The practical exam was also taken, but the result was not declared.

In a written statement on the behalf of the CBSE and another respondent, it was averred that the board from which the petitioner passed his Class X exam was not recognised. As such, the petitioner was ineligible for admission to Class XI. He could not have, thus, taken the Class XII exam at all. Besides, the petitioner was guilty of misrepresentation, the statement claimed.

Referring to the general conditions of admission, Justice Mittal asserted it was incumbent upon the CBSE and another respondent to peruse the documents when the petitioner took admission to

Class XI. “Had the same been done, the respondent-school could’ve been informed that the petitioner was not eligible to take admission.”

Justice Mittal made it clear that the allegation of misrepresentation was also unacceptable. It was well-known that printed forms were presented to the students and their parents at the time of “filling the list of candidates”. They signed the document placing full faith in the institution concerned. The fault did not lie with the petitioner. The respondent-school was responsible, if at all. “The CBSE and another respondent have been remiss in their own duties and they can’t make the petitioner suffer,” he asserted, while directing the CBSE to declare the result at the earliest.