The Supreme Court on Monday disposed of a writ petition filed by a Class XII private candidate after the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the Union Government informed the Court that a fresh national assessment policy had been formulated to evaluate private candidates whose examinations were cancelled in several Gulf countries due to the recent regional conflict in West Asia.
The Bench of Justice SVN Bhatti and Justice Vipul M Pancholi took on record the policy notified on June 21, 2026, and observed that the grievance raised by the petitioner had been substantially addressed.
The matter arose from a petition filed by Pransu Jigarkumar Patel, a private candidate from Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia, who challenged the CBSE’s decision not to declare his Class XII Improvement Examination result after the cancellation of certain board examinations in Gulf countries.
Patel contended that while the CBSE had issued an assessment scheme on March 27, 2026, for students affected by the cancellations, the scheme primarily catered to regular school students and did not provide any mechanism for evaluating private candidates appearing for improvement examinations. As a result, his result was withheld and reflected as “Result Later” (RL), adversely affecting his higher education prospects.
The Court had earlier issued notice to the Union government on June 8 and sought a solution to the issue. On June 13, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Union government and CBSE, informed the Court that a policy was being formulated to address the concerns raised by the petitioner and other similarly placed candidates. The matter was thereafter adjourned to June 22.
At the hearing on Monday, the SG informed the Bench that the newly notified policy was designed to address the concerns of all students affected by the cancellation of CBSE examinations across several Gulf and West Asian countries due to the ongoing regional conflict. He explained that the affected students fell into two categories: regular school candidates and private candidates.
According to the Union Government, while regular students could be assessed on the basis of school records such as periodic tests, quarterly examinations, half-yearly assessments and pre-board examinations, a similar methodology could not be adopted for private candidates because they lacked institutional assessment records. This created a distinct challenge in evaluating their performance for subjects in which examinations could not be conducted.
To address this gap, CBSE formulated a separate assessment mechanism for private candidates. Under the new policy, marks for cancelled subjects would be calculated by assigning 40 per cent weightage to the theory marks obtained in the Class X Board Examination and 60 per cent weightage to the theory marks secured in the Class XII Board Examination.
For the purpose of assessing Class X performance, the average of the candidate’s three highest-scoring subjects would be taken and normalised against the maximum marks prescribed for those subjects.
Patel had appeared for the 2026 Class XII improvement examination in Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, English and Computer Science. However, following the cancellation of examinations in several Gulf countries on March 15 amid escalating tensions arising from the Israel-Iran conflict, he was able to appear only for the Physics and Chemistry papers. The examinations in Mathematics, English and Computer Science were cancelled.
The Solicitor General informed the Court that under the newly framed assessment formula, the marks obtained by the petitioner in Physics and Chemistry had been evaluated on the basis of his actual examination performance, while the cancelled subjects had been assessed in accordance with the new policy. He further submitted that the petitioner’s result had already been computed, communicated to him through email and would also be made available through DigiLocker.
The Court was also informed that candidates dissatisfied with the marks awarded under the assessment formula would have the option of appearing in the next regular examination conducted by CBSE.
The counsel appearing for the petitioner acknowledged that the result had been declared but requested the Court to preserve the petitioner’s right to seek copies of answer scripts and pursue re-evaluation in accordance with applicable CBSE regulations.
The Bench, however, noted that no such relief had been sought in the original writ petition. Justice Bhatti observed that constitutional courts generally exercise restraint in examination-related matters and that the principal grievance raised in the petition stood redressed in view of the policy framework and declaration of the petitioner’s result.
The Apex Court disposed of the petition after taking the June 21 policy on record. It clarified that if the petitioner had any surviving grievance, he would be at liberty to pursue such remedies as may be available to him in accordance with law.
The post Supreme Court disposes of plea after CBSE formulates fresh assessment policy for Class XII private students in West Asia appeared first on India Legal.