The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to entertain a plea to cancel Class 10 and Class 12 offline Board exams saying it cannot become a norm and that such petitions cause confusion in the system.

Dismissing the plea filed to cancel offline board exams for Class 10 and Class 12, a bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar told the petitioner’s counsel, “Creating confusion by such petitions, what kind of petition you filed?”

“This cannot become the norm. Such petitions give false hope to students. They will be misled by such petitions,” the bench added as it also refused to entertain the petition that sought alternate mode of assessment.

The physical examinations of Class 10 and 12 are to be conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) and other state boards.

The bench, also comprising, Dinesh Maheshwari and CT Ravikumar, said “Authorities are already working on finalising dates and other arrangements and if there is any problem once those are finalised then the aggrieved parties can approach the authorities.”

The top court pulled up petitioners for filing premature petition and creating confusion among lakhs of students through such PILs. It warned the petitioner of exemplary costs if such action is repeated.

Advocate Prashant Padmanabhan, representing the petitioners, urged the top court to see the present CBSE directions and also pointed at the petition filed in connection with the exams last year.

The bench, also comprising Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and C.T. Ravikumar, said what has happened in past cannot become a norm, and that will be misleading. Padmanabhan added that CBSE has conducted first term exam in offline mode in December 2021 in MCQ mode and results aren’t published yet.

Justice Khanwilkar said the situation has not arrived yet and told the counsel to allow authorities to take a decision in the matter. “How can you pre-empt everything”, said the bench.

The plea said many students studying in CBSE, ICSE, NIOS and state board approached the petitioner, Anubha Shrivastava Sahai, for issues they are facing regarding the board exams and are directly affected by the outcome of this PIL.

“The other petitioners are students as well as the parents from different states, who were aggrieved by the Boards decision. That, the mental pressure that is created for performance in this exam is so much that every year a number of students commit suicide for fear of under-performance, or of failure”, said the petition.

The plea has sought directions to the CBSE and other education boards, which have proposed to hold board examinations for classes 10 and 12 in offline mode, for devising other modes of assessment.

Last year, almost all state and central education boards, including the CBSE and the CISCE had to cancel Class 10 and Class 12 final exams due to the second wave of Covid-19 and follow alternative methods of evaluation. However, CBSE, CISCE and some other state boards have decided to go with a two-term board exam system for 2021-22.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has announced the dates for class 10 and 12 term 2 exams. The term 2 exams will be held from April 26.