SC refuses to direct CBSE for AIEEE re-examination

The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to direct the Central Board of Secondary Education to conduct a fresh All India Engineering Entrance Examination, which was mired in controversy after its question papers were leaked.

A vacation bench of justices G S Singhvi and C K Prasad dismissed the petition filed by some students who approached the apex court after they couldn't appear for the test which was rescheduled after leakage of questions.

Refusing to interfere in the examination process, the court observed that around 10 lakh students have appeared for the examination and they would suffer because of fresh examination.

The students approached the apex court challenging a Delhi high court order which on May 18 had refused to stay the declaration of AIEEE results.

The CBSE had submitted before the high court that, "decision taken by an examination conducting body on basis of material and information available to it is beyond the scope of judicial review as the said body is the best judge of the situation and the manner of dealing with the same."

"If the board had decided to cancel the examination for all 97 per cent candidates (who appeared for exam on May 1), this would have caused inconvenience and hardships to vast majority of students," CBSE had said.

A group of AIEEE candidates, who had appeared for the exam after a delay of three hours due to question paper leak on May 1, had sought cancellation of both the examinations (1st and 2nd phase) on the ground that the students were compelled to give the exam under adverse conditions and circumstances, which is violative of fundamental rights.

On May 1, the examination, conducted by CBSE, was delayed by three hours following a paper leak. The exam was scheduled at 9.30 am but was rescheduled to begin at 12 noon on the same day.

The next day the government came with a notification that the AIEEE exam will be re-conducted on May 11, only for candidates who could not appear for the exam on May 1.

The question paper was reportedly being sold in the open market in Lucknow and a man was arrested by Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force.