CUTTACK: In a significant ruling, the Orissa High Court has quashed the cancellation of Class XII examination results of 74 students from Padampur Public School in Bargarh district and directed Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to publish them within a week.
The students had appeared for the Senior School Certificate Examination, 2025 conducted by the CBSE at Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya, Bandupali.
However, when results were declared on May 13, 2025, their scores were withheld and marked as ‘result later (RL)’ without any marks being awarded. Later, an official order dated May 26, 2025, issued by the CBSE regional director, Bhubaneswar, classified their results under ‘unfair means (UFM)’ and cancelled them in all subjects.
Challenging the decision, the students initially approached the High Court, which on December 8, 2025, directed them to submit representations before the CBSE regional director. Despite compliance, no response was received, prompting the present petition seeking quashing of the cancellation order and publication of results.
Counsel for the petitioners argued that the CBSE acted on the basis of inferences, surmises and conjectures without any direct evidence/material, thereby adopting a discriminatory approach. It was further contended that such action violated the students’ fundamental right to equality under Article 14.
Finding merit in the submissions, Justice Ananda Chandra Behera on Friday held that when there is no authentic/concrete legal proof before CBSE authorities to reach a definite conclusion regarding malpractice, the blanket cancellation of results cannot be sustainable under law.
“The cancellation of the result of the petitioners is quashed,” Justice Behera ordered in his final direction, adding, “All the CBSE authorities are jointly and severally directed to publish the result of the Senior School Certificate Examination, 2025 (Class-XII) of the petitioners within a week from the date of this judgment and communicate the result of the petitioners as well as its consequential certificates and mark sheets as per the rules immediately after publication of their results.”