Himachal Pradesh High Court Imposes Costs Of ₹25K On School Education Board
The Himachal Pradesh High Court, while imposing a cost of ₹25k on the Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education for denying a meritorious student her merit certificate, has observed that she cannot be made to suffer for others’ mistakes.
The Court was considering a Writ Petition seeking to place the Petitioner at an appropriate place in the merit list of the Matriculation examination.
The Bench of Justice Ajay Mohan Goel observed, “As it is a matter of record that the marks of the petitioner were substantively enhanced in the re-evaluation and on the face of it, the petitioner is a highly meritorious candidate, for the acts of omission and commission of the respondents, she cannot be made to suffer.”
The Petitioner was represented by Advocate hirdaya ram, while the Respondent was represented by Advocate Chander Shekhar.
Facts of the Case
The Petitioner appeared in the 10th class examination conducted by the Respondent/Board in the month of March, 2024 and secured 686 marks out of 700. Dissatisfied, she applied for re-evaluation and her score increased to 693 out of 700. The grievance of the Petitioner was that after the result of her re-evaluation, she requested the Respondents to issue her a merit certificate, which was issued to the top ten students who had scored the highest marks in the matriculation examination, so as to render her eligible to receive scholarship etc., but the same was not being done.
In its reply, the Board mentioned that in order to be reflected in the merit list of the top ten candidates the documents of the students were required to be submitted, but the Head Mistress of the School submitted the Petitioner’s document late and therefore, the needful could not be done.
Reasoning By Court
The Court at the outset remarked that it fails to understand how the Board could have shirked off its responsibility so easily, as has been done in the present case, by shifting the entire blame on the other Respondents.
“As it is the respondent-Board that conducts the examination and declares the result, obviously onus is upon it to scrutinize as to who are the ten top most meritorious candidates that are to be reflected in the merit list including the stage post reevaluation. This onus cannot be shifted by the Board to other respondents like the Head Master or the Head Mistress of the School, as is being tried to be done in the present case”the Court observed.
It thus stressed that Petitioner cannot be denied the merit certificate arbitrarily just on the grounds as are propagated by the Respondent-Board in its reply.
“The meritorious students do not deserve such treatment. Rather than rewarding her excellence, the respondent Board has forced her to knock the doors of justice which is not appreciated”, the Court added.
The Application was accordingly allowed.
Cause Title: Yashaswini Aggarwal vs. Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education & others (2025:HHC:25330)
Appearances:
Petitioner– Advocate Hiradaya Ram, Advocate Suresh Singh Saini
Respondent– Advocate Chander Shekhar, Deputy Advocate General Rahul Thakur