Best-five stays, for ICSE students too

The Supreme Court on Thursday disposed of the Maharashtra State Board’s appeal in the best-five case after learning that the board had amended its regulations and incorporated the court’s interim order delivered in July last year.

The Supreme Court on Thursday disposed of the Maharashtra State Board’s appeal in the best-five case after learning that the board had amended its regulations and incorporated the court’s interim order delivered in July last year.

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The interim order had said the best-five rule would apply to state board students as well as ICSE students in Maharashtra.

A bench of justice VS Sirpurkar and justice TS Thakur held on Thursday that since the regulations were amended, the board’s appeal challenging the Bombay high court’s verdict that struck down the best-five formula became infructuous. It added that if anyone was aggrieved with the amended regulations, a fresh petition should be filed.

While passing the interim order, the SC had said that an ICSE student seeking admission to junior college on the basis of the best-five formula would be allowed to choose subjects only from Group I and Group II. Accepting the state board’s proposal, the bench ruled out including any Group III subject while calculating the aggregate for ICSE students.

It also gave ICSE students the option to stick to the best-7 formula. This would apply if a student wanted marks scored in a Group III subject to be considered while calculating the percentage.

The state board had moved SC against the HC verdict, saying it proposed to admit ICSE students on the basis of the formula provided they compulsorily passed in maths and science.