CBSE students move SC seeking extension of deadline for college admissions, quashing of compartment exams

Nine CBSE students on Thursday filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking an extension of the college admissions deadline, saying that the board is yet to conduct the compartment exams. The deadline to apply for college courses is currently 31 August. The plea, filed with the assistance of the All India Students Union (AISA) also sought to quash the CBSE’s decision to conduct the compartment exams at all, amid the coronavirus pandemic. The petitioners argued that the decision to hold the exams violated the Right to Equality, since all students were exempted from appearing for the board exams due to the outbreak this year. A ‘compartment exam’ is the re-test students need to write due to inadequate marks. According to Live Law, 1,50,198 Class 10 students and 87,651 Class 12 students across the country are set to give the compartment exams. The plea, filed through Advocates Sanjay Kumar Dubey, Tanvi Dubey, and Sanpreety Singh Ajmani, was quoted by the report as saying that the “arbitrary decision to conduct the compartment exams is violative of the Right to Health” of the students as well. Petitioners also said that students who have to appear for the compartment exams will be left behind in the 2020-21 admission cycle, Bar and Bench reported. “Impugned decision of the CBSE is completely an afterthought. It has failed to take into consideration the reasons why the CBSE exams were postponed in March 2020 and further cancelled in June 2020,” the report quoted the plea as saying.