What happened (Supreme Court + Union government + CBSE OSM)

The Supreme Court heard a petition related to alleged irregularities in the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) On-Screen Marking (OSM) of Class 12 answer sheets for the 2026 examination cycle. The Union government submitted to the Supreme Court that it cannot award “grace marks” to Class 12 students in response to these allegations.

The Union government’s stated position was that a one-week window had been opened for students to seek re-evaluation after the OSM-related issues were alleged. The Union government reportedly received applications from about 1.68 lakh students within that window.

The Union government argued that the petition’s request before the Supreme Court is effectively a request to add grace marks, which the government said is not possible. The Supreme Court also questioned what remedial steps the government and connected agencies actually took after detection of OSM irregularities.

During the hearing, the petitioner’s counsel argued that many students who needed relief had already cleared other entrance examinations but were blocked because they did not meet the minimum qualifying marks in Class 12. The petitioner’s counsel also argued that the one-week time period was too short and that many applicants did not receive revised answer sheets after applying for re-evaluation.

The Supreme Court asked the Union government to file an affidavit describing remedial measures taken after the CBSE OSM irregularities were detected. The Supreme Court also directed the petitioner to provide specific instances where applicants could not access the re-evaluation portal due to infrastructure problems, and instances where students submitted for re-evaluation but still did not receive revised answers.

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