HC seeks report on paper leak

Will hear plea to conduct class 12 Physics re-exam across country

The Delhi High Court has directed the central government and Central Board of Secondary Education to submit a detailed status report on the leak of the Class 12 Physics question paper for the 2014 senior secondary examinations in Manipur. The next date of hearing is April 16.

A division bench of Acting Chief Justice B D Ahmed and Justice Siddharth Mridul said it will hear the issue of conducting re-examination for other states, except Delhi.

The CBSE in its interim report told the court that the leak of the All India Senior Secondary Certification Examination question paper was not “widespread”.

Filing an interim report, CBSE said that a four-member committee comprising CBSE secretary and joint secretary has been formed to look into the issue. “The committee's interaction with school, general public, custodian of question paper and information gathered reveals that the people came to know about the leak only through a newspaper report,” it said.

Students in Delhi remained unaware of the Physics paper being leaked until the newspaper reached them, the report said.

It added that the leak was confined at limited areas of Imphal city and neighbouring areas of the state and “it appears that other states of the country are not affected.”

“Therefore keeping in view of the overall situation and to maintain the sanctity of the examination, the CBSE may reconduct the AISSCE 2014 Physics paper in the whole state of Manipur,” it said. “Simultaneously a formal complaint regarding the leak may be lodged with police.”

The bench had earlier directed the government to conduct a fresh inquiry on the extent of the leak with regard to other states. Each year, the CBSE prepares three sets of question papers for Delhi, rest of India and outside India.

The petition filed by Rajiv Ranjan Dwivedi said the question paper set for the second category was leaked on the internet a day before the examination. “The question paper was leaked, downloaded on the internet, sold in the market,” said the petition. The question paper was accessible in the market for Rs 3,000, it added.

While the CBSE has decided to conduct a re-examination of the Physics paper in Manipur on April 2, the petition had sought direction to the government to conduct re-examination for the rest of the country also.

The petition said that those who succeed in procuring the leaked question paper can certainly take advantage in the IIT JEE examination and getting admission in good colleges. It said 40 per cent of the marks obtained in the class 12 examination are considered in the IIT JEE exam.