18-year-old moves Supreme Court to increase 12th board exam marks from 98% to 99%

An 18-year-old boy who scored 97.83% in his 12th board exams and was unsuccesful in getting the benefit of re-evaluation to take that number up to 99% has moved the Supreme Court. (Khalone Devaiah MC v. Ritesh Kumar Singh and ors).A Bench of Justices BR Gavai and Aravind Kumar on Thursday sought the response of the Karnataka government and officials of the State examination department in the matter..The petitioner, one Khalone Devaiah, moved the top court challenging a Karnataka High Court order that dropped contempt proceedings against concerned officials after it had earlier asked the re-evaluation to be carried out.The student had scored the following marks in his Pre-University (PU) exams held in 2022: English: 90/100, Kannada: 98/100, Biology: 99/100; and full marks in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics.After accessing copies of the evaluated answer sheets, he calculated that he would gain the mark lost in Biology and 5.5 marks in English. The PU Education Board of the State initially said that there was no case for a change of his marks when he applied for re-evaluation.He again wrote to them with a detailed representation.Subsequently, the boy was informed that no change of marks could be made as he had already applied for re-evaluation once, and since there needed to be a difference of 6 marks for a change to be reflected in the grade sheets afresh..Aggrieved by this decision, he moved the High Court, which asked the board to consider his representation, while keeping the question of law open.The student later moved an application after there was a delay on the part of the authorities. The High Court then directed that a status report be furnished. After the same was not done, and the respondents refused to alter his marks, he moved a contempt plea.The High Court disposed of the same, noting that there was no legal provision to indicate revised marks as a supplement to the existing grade sheet, leading to the present appeal before the Supreme Court..Counsel for the petitioner before the top court, Advocate Vikram Hegde, submitted that the marks are needed for admissions, as cut-offs at reputed colleges are high.Hegde was assisted by Advocates Jagrit Vyas and Ajith Achappa.[Read order]