The Delhi High Court directed the CBSE to decide in eight weeks whether it will refund the examination fees charged for the board exams of class 10th and 12th.
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the CBSE to decide in eight weeks whether it will refund the examination fees charged for class 10 and class 12 board exams as they have been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. . Justice Prateek Jalan gave the order to CBSE in respect of a petition filed by Deepa Joseph, a Class 10 student studying in a school recognized by CBSE, and paid Rs 2,100 as examination fee.
CBSE’s decision can be challenged
The court said that if Joseph is not satisfied, then the decision of CBSE can be challenged. The judge further said that it is necessary to have the logic right from both the sides. Justice Salan also said that he is also a beneficiary of the petition because his son is in class 12th, yet the parties had no objection to hearing his petition. Advocate Robin Raju, who was appearing for Joseph, argued that since the board examination has been cancelled, at least some part of the examination fee should be refunded to the students.
Raju claimed that the cost of conducting board exams by CBSE and its role in the process has come down. He said that the schools were uploading the marks. However, the court disagreed with Raju and said that if CBSE is not doing anything, you take the marksheets from the schools and go.
Advocate Rupesh Kumar submitted that CBSE is a self-financing institution and its expenditure is mainly funded by the examination fee collected from the students appearing for class 10th and 12th board exams. He further said that there is no direct relation between the physical conduct of the board examination and the fee charged by the students.
