A candidate who approached the Calcutta High Court after securing lower-than-expected marks in his higher secondary school examination and later found that parts of his answer sheet were missing has been awarded extra marks to compensate for the loss.
The bench of Justice Sougat Bhattacharya ordered the West Bengal Higher Secondary Education Council to pay compensation to Krishnanagar resident Varshan Chakraborty.
In the order given on December 10, the bench said, “Looking at the report filed today on behalf of the council and the decision of the chairman of the council on December 2, 2024, it appears that this is in view of the educational interest. Petitioner, the Council has decided to increase 35 marks in Mathematics (Theory), as a result of which the total marks allotted to the petitioner have increased from 2000. 55 to 90. A revised mark sheet has also been attached to the report submitted today on behalf of the council.
When his 2022 higher secondary exam results came out, Chakraborty was surprised to get only 35 marks in the written test and 20 marks in the practical for the maths paper, expecting more than 75 out of 80.
A photocopy of her answer sheet was shown to Chakraborty after making a Right to Information (RTI) request to the council. Then, out of the six loose sheets he used in the exam, three were found missing. He appealed to increase the marks due to missing sheets but the council refused the request.
Chakraborty’s lawyer Shankar Haldar said, “We filed a case in the Calcutta High Court in 2023 as it was about the future of the young boy and the council was not ready to raise the marks. The order was passed by a single bench of Justice Saugata Bhattacharya after several hearings. The Board of Higher Secondary Education is going to increase the marks of the missing papers. Now Burson’s score is 90.”
His father Vishwajit Chakraborty told The Indian Express, “We are satisfied with the marks given, but it took two years and the intervention of the Calcutta High Court. Without that intervention, it would not have been possible. Because of the council’s mistake, for just five marks, my son dropped out of all the good government engineering colleges.”
Chairman of the council Chiranjeev Bhattacharya said that no investigation has been done on how the answer book was lost. “This is the case of 2022. This was the first exam after covid and after that all the exams were conducted in home schools. As this is an old case, no investigation could be done. Candidates were given marks on the basis of doubt. The father has informed in writing that they are satisfied with the decision of the council. The matter was settled.”
Varshan Chakraborty was suffering from lipoma since 2016.
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