HC throws out petition of student who overwrote answers and sought marks

Observing that he has overwritten and scribbled answers, Bombay High Court recently refused to grant any relief to a 10th standard student seeking rechecking of his papers.

A Division Bench presided over by Justice Vidyasagar Kanade and Justice Chandrashekar Bhadang was hearing a plea of Navi Mumbai-based Prem Chatterjee (name changed).

A Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) student, Prem had appeared for the National Talent Search Examination held on November 6, 2016. The result was declared on March 3, 2017. The cut-off marks for successful students was set at 115 but Prem was declared unsuccessful as he secured 114. The very next day, Prem applied for a copy of answer sheets and received them on March 25, 2017.

It was Prem’s case that he had given 119 correct answers and that he should have been given119 marks, well above the cut-off of 115. Accordingly, he made a representation before the Commissioner of Maharashtra State Council for Examination to manually verify the answers and add the said marks to the total marks he had secured.

However, his request was not accepted.

On the other hand, the examiners contended that Prem had applied whitener on the earlier answers given by him and had rectified his answers thereafter. The Bench was informed that specific instructions were given on the question paper stating, “Answers which are once recorded cannot be cancelled and if the response is recorded as correct answer no more than one bubble response scratch and overwriting will not be given any marks.”

After hearing both sides, Justice Kanade said, “There is much substance in the submission made by the examiner. The instructions which are appearing on the question paper/ answer sheet are very clear and they state that the answer once recorded cannot be cancelled.”

“The candidates were specifically given clear instructions not to scratch any answer. The fact that he has rectified five of his answers has been fairly admitted by him in his petition,” Justice Kanade added.

While dismissing Prem’s petition, Justice Kanade said, “In our view, the petitioner having scratched the response which was given by him and rectified his answer, is not entitled to get any marks for answering the said questions. His contentions cannot be accepted as there is no substance in it.”