HC directs state Board to release disbarred teen’s Class 12 marksheet

The Bombay high court has ordered the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education to release the marksheet of an engineering aspirant from Nashik. The board had withheld the Class 12 results of Krish Chordiya after stating that he was not eligible to be admitted to the science stream as he did not opt for science in Class 10. The court criticised the board and Gargi Junior College for not informing Chordiya of his ineligibility earlier and said that students should not be penalised for the faults of educational institutions.

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court has come to the rescue of an engineering aspirant from Nashik whose Class 12 marksheet was withheld by the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE), stating that the boy did not opt for science subject in Class 10 and was not eligible to be admitted to science stream.

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A division bench of justice Gautam Patel and justice Neela Gokhale in an interim order on Wednesday directed the Board to issue mark list and passing certificate for the HSC examination to the student, Krish Chordiya, observing that the Board and his college—Gargi Junior College in Nashik—should have informed him immediately about his ineligibility soon after the admission, if not during the admission process.

“If the regulations were known to the 4th respondent (the Board) and the 5th respondent (the college), it was for them to coordinate to ensure that the petitioner (Chordiya) was informed before being given admission that he was ineligible, whatever the reason,” the bench said.

“It is certainly not open to the college, which must be deemed to know of all applicable regulations, to say that it is not at fault. If the Board cannot control the conduct of its accredited educational institutions, then the consequences of that fault cannot be visited on students,” the court added.

Chordiya, who had secured 92% marks in Class 10, had moved the HC after he was informed on May 25—when the Board declared HSC result—that he was debarred and his result was withheld.

On enquiry, he found that on March 27, the junior college had cancelled his admission to Class 11, four days after the Board informed the college that the 17-year-old was not eligible for admission to science stream as he had not opted for science in Class 10 ICSE examination.

Responding to the petition, the Board pointed out that Regulation 16 of the Maharashtra Secondary and Higher Secondary Boards Act 1965 lays down that to be eligible for science stream of a junior college, a candidate must secure a minimum of 40% marks in science in the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination or equivalent and therefore the student was held ineligible.

The judges, however, said that they “see no rationale why Class 10 students who do not take science (in SSC) should not be admitted to the science stream, especially when the National Education Policy proposes to change the entire education pattern by doing away with the “old trifecta of Science-Arts-Commerce”.

“The emphasis is now on identifying and nurturing potential and providing flexible learning options,” the bench said and asked, “If this is the policy trend, we are unable to see how the inflexibility—to say nothing of the tardiness—of the Board’s approach fulfils any objective at all. We were compelled to ask what the purpose of the Board is: to assist students and provide and encourage education opportunities or to discover new ways to stymie them?”