BENGALURU: The division bench of Karnataka High Court on Thursday gave a green signal to the state government to conduct the board examinations for the students of Classes 5, 8 and 9 scheduled to be held from March 11. Exams for class 11 had already been completed on February 28.
With this, 28 lakh students from 45,000 schools across the state will be taking examinations from March 11 for which the times-tables were out in December itself.
A division bench of Justices K Somashekar and Rajesh Rai K passed the interim order by staying the judgment delivered by the single judge on March 6, until further orders, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case.
The single judge had quashed the notifications dated October 6 and 9, 2023 issued by the state government to hold board examinations for the summative assessment of students of Classes 5, 8, 9 and 11 in schools affiliated to the Karnataka School Examination and Assessment Board.
‘Over 45,000 schools have made preparations for board exams’
The validity of the notifications was challenged by the Registered Unaided Private Schools Management Association Karnataka and the Organisation For Unaided Recognised Schools before the single judge bench on the ground that those were issued without following due process of law under the Karnataka Education Act.
The state government prepared the appeal overnight and challenged Wednesday’s single-judge order before the division bench on Thursday.The division bench noted that the timetable was published on December 13, 2023, for the board examination which is scheduled to commence on March 11 for Classes 5, 8 and 9.
While the board examinations for class 11 have already been conducted, the authorities have prepared to conduct the board exam for the remaining classes. In such circumstances, if the single judge’s order is allowed to continue, the same would prolong the present situation of uncertainty, which is extremely detrimental to the student community virtually on the eve of their examinations, the division bench said.
The court also pointed out that the single judge bench had failed to consider that petitioners had not challenged the order dated November 16, 2023, issued by the state government after the issuance of the notifications in question.
Defending the state government’s decision, Additional Advocate General Vikram Huilgol submitted that there are 42,250 government schools and 2,660 aided schools. Thus, nearly 45,000 schools in the state have made all preparations for board examinations for a total of 28 lakh students who are ready to write examinations from March 11.
At this juncture, if the single judge’s order is not stayed, there would be irreparable loss and injury caused to the students, parents and also the school authorities which cannot be compensated in any manner, he argued.
Advocate KV Dhananjay, representing the respondent-petitioners, countered that the single judge had rightly quashed the state government’s decision in the interest of students. If the interim order is passed staying the single judge’s order, the state government will withdraw the appeals after the examinations and will not take steps to rectify the lapses in the process of law adopted to issue notifications in question, resulting in the interim order becoming final, he pleaded.