NSUI Moves Delhi High Court Over CBSE On-Screen Marking Irregularities

The National Students' Union of India (NSUI) has taken legal action against the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), filing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Delhi High Court. The PIL seeks an independent inquiry into what it describes as "large-scale irregularities and deficiencies" within the CBSE's newly implemented On-Screen Marking (OSM) system for Class 12 board examinations. The petition, filed through NSUI President Vinod Jhakhar, addresses serious concerns raised by lakhs of students, parents, and teachers across India following the declaration of Class 12 results. The complaints span a range of issues, including blurred scanned answer sheets, missing pages, incomplete uploads, mismatches in answer booklets, and unexpectedly low marks. The NSUI argues that these numerous complaints point towards systemic flaws in the digital evaluation system, rather than isolated incidents. The OSM system was introduced as a digital method for scanning and evaluating answer books, aiming to streamline the assessment process. However, the post-results period has been fraught with difficulties. Students reported significant challenges in accessing scanned copies of their evaluated answer sheets and navigating the re-evaluation portal. Many faced login errors, frozen screens after uploading details, payment gateway failures, excess fee deductions, and difficulties in accessing their scanned answer sheets even after payment. A key demand of the NSUI's PIL is for the Delhi High Court to direct the CBSE to award compensatory marks to students whose answer scripts were found to be missing, blurred, or incorrectly evaluated. Furthermore, the student body has called for manual rechecking and physical verification of answer sheets in cases where students dispute the correctness of the scanned copies or the evaluation process. To allow affected students sufficient time to seek remedies, the PIL also seeks directions to keep the verification and re-evaluation portal open for an additional month. The urgency of these matters is underscored by the critical role Class 12 marks play in determining admissions to universities, scholarships, and various professional courses. NSUI contends that any errors in evaluation can have detrimental and long-lasting consequences for students' academic futures. The existing grievance redressal mechanism is deemed inadequate by the NSUI, as it leaves students with limited digital remedies and no meaningful process for manual verification or independent rechecking of disputed answer books. Adding to the controversy, cybersecurity concerns also surfaced. A 19-year-old ethical hacker, Nisarga Adhikary, publicly alleged security flaws in CBSE's digital evaluation ecosystem. Adhikary claimed to have identified vulnerabilities in the On-Screen Marking (OSM) portal and, crucially, an improperly configured Amazon Web Services (AWS) storage bucket that allegedly allowed public access to 2026 answer sheets and question papers. This raised alarms about data exposure and the potential for unauthorized access to examiner accounts and evaluation functions. In response to these concerns, the CBSE acknowledged technical glitches and vulnerabilities. The board stated it had contained the identified vulnerabilities in the OnMark portal operated by its service provider and was working with cybersecurity experts from various government agencies and Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) to strengthen the system's security infrastructure. CBSE also expressed gratitude to ethical hackers and alert citizens who brought these issues to their attention. Despite initial denials regarding a security breach, the board later admitted to vulnerabilities, marking a significant shift in its stance. The re-evaluation portal itself faced significant delays and ongoing issues. Originally scheduled to go live on May 29, 2026, it was repeatedly postponed, eventually becoming operational on June 2, 2026, with reports of fresh login errors immediately after its launch. The CBSE also mandated Aadhaar authentication for portal access, though alternative Aadhaar details of parents or guardians could be used in specific cases. The delays and persistent technical problems amplified anxiety among students, particularly as college admissions and counseling rounds commenced. Overall, the NSUI's move to the Delhi High Court underscores a growing lack of confidence among students and parents in the CBSE's digital evaluation and post-result processes for the 2026 Class 12 examinations. The PIL seeks a robust, transparent, and fair mechanism to address the grievances and ensure the academic future of lakhs of students is not jeopardized by systemic or technical failures.

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