HC rejects petition of SSC candidate over Maharashtra state board decision to debar him from exams

Updated on: Saturday, January 05, 2013

Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court has recently rejected the petition of a SSC candidate who had challenged the Maharashtra State Board of Higher Secondary Education's decision to debar him from appearing in the examination till October 2014 for tampering the marks sheet. The court also asked the SSC board to seek experts' help to ensure that the mark sheets handed over to students are tamper-proof.

The city-based Mukul Mandir High School's student, Atulkumar Machhindra Padale had appeared in the examination conducted by the SSC board in March 2012. The result was declared online on June 13. The copy he submitted to the school showed that he secured 94% marks. Though original mark sheet with the school showed, him actually getting 68.80%, said V R Sonwalkar, the lawyer for the board.

Later, he claimed that the marks were increased after he got the papers rechecked, when he had not even applied for rechecking. Reports about the board's negligence were exposed and the candidate also lodged a complaint with the board asking them to correct the mistake. The petitioner had also approached the media highlighting 'the injustice done due to negligence on the board's part.'

Subsequently, the authorities issued notice to the school and to Atulkumar asking them to appear before an inquiry officer with their record. The inquiry revealed that Atulkumar had indeed tampered with the marks sheet. The board subsequently cancelled his performance in the SSC exam in March 2012 while debarring him from appearing the examination till October 2014, Sonwalkar said on Thursday.

Atukumar being a minor, his father, Machhindra Padale challenged the SSC board decision in the high court. Following the arguments, Justice Naresh H Patil and Sadhana S Jadhav, dismissed Atulkumar's petition on November 27, 2012 refusing to interfere in the matter, and thus confirming the SSC board's decision to debar the candidate from the examination till October 2014, the board's lawyer said.

The court observed "we have perused the original record, including the original mark sheet issued by the board, in favour of Atulkumar for the examination conducted in March 2012. We have perused the original answer sheets of the petitioner of different subjects and tallied the marks secured by him from the answer sheets and the marks as reflected in the questioned marks sheet, which was cancelled by the board. Prima facie, appearance-wise, we find that two portions of the mark-sheet, i.e. the list of the subjects and the marks obtained, are in different colour and print.''

The court also refused to accept the petitioner's contention that he was not responsible for alleged tampering.

The high court also observed "after perusing the mark-sheet, the tampered one, we find that the board should take it seriously. We direct the board to call for expert's report, so in future, mark-sheets handed over to the students, by and large, should be tamper-proof.''

HC rejects petition of SSC candidate over Maharashtra state board decision to debar him from exams

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