Supreme Court Closes Plea After Centre Announces CBSE Gulf Exam Policy

The Supreme Court on Monday disposed of a plea filed by a CBSE Class 12 private candidate from Saudi Arabia.

The decision came after the Centre informed the court that a new national policy had been notified for students affected by the cancellation of CBSE examinations due to war-related tensions and security concerns in West Asian countries.

A Bench of Justices SVN Bhatti and Vipul M Pancholi took on record the policy notified on June 21.

The court noted Solicitor General Tushar Mehta’s submission that the petitioner had already received communication of his result.

Pransu Jigarkumar Patel, a CBSE Class 12 Improvement Examination candidate from Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia, filed the petition seeking a declaration of his result. He argued that CBSE had withheld his result despite introducing a special assessment scheme for students affected by examination cancellations in the Gulf region.

During the hearing, the Centre informed the court that CBSE examinations remained cancelled across seven Gulf countries, affecting both regular and private candidates.

The March 27 assessment framework allowed schools to assess regular students through school records. Private candidates lacked the internal assessment data needed under the framework.

To address this issue, the Centre introduced a separate formula under the new policy.

The revised formula assigns 40 per cent weightage to Class 10 Board theory marks, and 60 per cent weightage to Class 12 Board theory marks for cancelled subjects.

The Centre informed the court that the new formula showed improved performance in the petitioner’s result. It also said officials had shared the result via email and would update DigiLocker next.

The policy also allows dissatisfied students to appear in the next regular examination.

Dismissing the plea, the Supreme Court clarified that the petitioner remains free to pursue any available legal remedies if any grievance survives.