HC orders state board to issue re-exam marksheet

Bombay High Court aids medical aspirant whose HSC result was cancelled due to delay, directs board to issue marksheet reflecting improved score.

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Monday came to the aid of a 23-year-old medical aspirant from Goregaon whose higher secondary certificate (HSC) result was ‘cancelled’ by the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education as he had failed to collect the marksheet within six months after reappearing for the exam in 2018. The court asked the applicant to surrender his previous marksheet and pay a late fee while directing the board to issue the marksheet reflecting his improved performance forthwith.

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The bench comprising justices AS Chandurkar and Jitendra Jain stressed that the purpose of re-examination is to allow students to improve their scores for higher education opportunities. They deemed the board’s decision of cancelling the result as illogical since there is no such provision.

The applicant Soheb Sageerali Khan, a science student, had secured 55.37% marks in the HSC exam in February 2017. He opted for re-examination as he wanted to qualify for the national eligibility cum entrance test (NEET) and improved his score to 65.2%.

Khan subsequently joined a coaching institute in Kota, Rajasthan to prepare for the NEET exam, and appeared for the exam multiple times including in 2024. Meanwhile, in 2022, he approached the state board with a request to issue the marksheet reflecting his improved score from 2018. But the board rejected his request, citing his failure to collect the marksheet within the stipulated time frame of six months.

This prompted Khan to seek relief from the Bombay high court. During the hearing, the court observed that the board’s decision lacked legal basis, especially considering Khan’s valid reasons for delay – he genuinely believed that he could obtain the marksheet from his college and he approached the board only after the college had refused to provide him the marksheet.

The court found no grounds to dismiss this explanation. Citing a similar precedent wherein a student was allowed to collect marksheets beyond the stipulated period on payment of a fee, the court ruled in favour of Khan. It directed him to approach the board with a copy of the order, surrender his previous marksheet in original, pay the necessary charges, and obtain the fresh improved with improved score. The board too was instructed to issue the revised marksheet immediately.