Patna HC imposes Rs 5L penalty on Bihar board after finding examinee’s copy changed

All the candidates who applied for scrutiny in the 2017 secondary examination conducted by the Bihar school examination board (BSEB) can seek re-evaluation if their demand is supported with credible material and the board cannot deny it. 

This was ruled by the Patna high court bench of Chakradhari Sharan Singh, who asked the board to pay Rs 5-lakh penalty to Priyanka Singh, daughter of Rajeev Kumar Singh of Saharsa, after her copy was found changed when the court intervened in the matter. 

Interestingly, the matter went into eight hearings as the board kept on insisting that the marks given to the girl was correct and that nothing had been found wrong during the scrutiny of her answer book. But everything changed after the court threatened to order an inquiry into the matter. 

When the results were first declared, the girl was shown to have scored 9/100 in Sanskrit and 29/80 in Science theory paper and she was declared failed in the examination, like nearly 50% of the other candidates who appeared in the examination this year. 

But she was confident she had done well in these papers and applied for scrutiny of marks shown against her name.

“The scrutiny of the answer sheets of the petitioner has been done and no change is required on evaluation of the petitioner’s answer-sheets, on the basis of report submitted by the superintendent of the scrutiny center,” was the board’s initial stand in the court. 

At one point, with the board unyielding, even the court doubted the candidate and asked her to pay Rs 40,000 in the court as security deposit, which also she did, aware that she would forfeit the amount if proved wrong. 

After she disputed the handwriting in answer-sheet shown by board and disclaimed it as hers, she was asked to provide a sample in the court, which the court discovered was substantially different from the handwriting in the answer-sheets produced before the Court. 

At one point, the court made it clear that it was intending to direct an inquiry to be conducted by a senior officer under the state of Bihar, into the affairs of the board. “However, under the expectation the board shall dispassionately examine the matter, I am refraining from passing such order, for the present,” the court observed. 

The tough stand of the court did the trick, and blew the lid on the callousness on part of the board and it finally admitted its mistake and agreed to take remedial measures.

The girl‘s marks were revised – from 9 to 80 out of 100 in Sanskrit and from 29 to 61 iout of 80 n the science theory paper, after re-evaluation. With the admission process over in most institutions, the remedy has come late ibn the day. But the larger issue is the fate of candidates who could not pursue their cases as vigorously as Priyanka did.

Realising the sensitivity of the matter, the court has ruled: “I further direct that the board shall not destroy answer-sheets of annual secondary examination, 2017 till specific order is passed by the court in this regard.”