'Why is Karnataka govt bent on harassing people?' asks SC on proposal to conduct board exams

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday told the Karnataka government that it is not permissible to conduct board exams for Classes 5, 8 and 9 in the face of an interim order, and wondered why the State is "bent on harassing the people".

A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma also asked the petitioners' advocate K V Dhananjay to seek instructions as the state government informed the court that the communication issued on September 4 and September 15 regarding the time table for the year 2024-25 for classes 8, 9 and 10 for summative assessment exam was withdrawn.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Karnataka government, submitted that the government had withdrawn the notification even before the contempt was filed. If any exam was conducted, the results shall not be declared, he said.

Dhananjay, however, informed that despite the interim stay, the Karnataka government conducted the public examinations.

"If the results were to be published, the parents have to be communicated," he said.

The bench, on this, asked, "Why is the State bent on harassing these people?"

Mehta said that the examination was conducted as in some areas, the average marks obtained by students were less than 50.

The bench commented that there must be some ego problem.

Petitioner Organisation for Unaided Recognised Schools (OUR Schools) also filed an application for taking note of the development including withdrawal of the notification on September 30.

The Supreme Court then asked the Karnataka government to desist from doing anything in defiance of the court's order as it was informed about a proposal of conducting board exams for Classes 5, 8 and 9 in the current academic year.

On March 12, 2024, the apex court had set aside an interim order of the Karnataka High Court's division bench order allowing the state government to conduct board exams for the summative assessment of students of classes 5, 8, and 9 as per the schedule.