Bengaluru, Apr 18 The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday declined to entertain the state government’s review petition against its directions to conduct the valuation of the recently conducted SSLC examination as per the existing rules.
The government had appealed against the Karnataka HC directive, which would mean awarding marks and not grades for third language papers in the SSLC examination.
The bench presided over by Justice E S Indiresh took note of the fact that the new evaluation system was introduced after the SSLC exams. Even these changes in the examination were not notified by the state government.
The court maintained that the government neither promulgated rules nor passed the regular notification.
The new evaluation system proposes to grade third-language subjects individually, and not factor them in computing a student's final SSLC marks.
Advocate General Shashi Kiran Shetty argued that lakhs of students had failed in Hindi, which was their third language subject in the examination. Hence, the decision was taken to minimise the pressure on the students.
He also told the Court that the state government is coming up with appropriate amendment in the draft rule. Students are given grade instead of marks.
The court maintained that the state government should have clarified on this before issuing the notification.
The judge also noted that 83 per cent of students passed the examination. If the intention was to see everyone pass, why did it conduct the examination, the court said.
The court had earlier this week directed authorities to conduct the valuation of the recently conducted SSLC examination as per the existing rules, when the notification was issued for the examination for the 2025-26 academic year.
The court issued the directive while hearing a petition filed by three students who appeared for the SSLC exam held between March 18 and April 2.
The petition followed the School Education and Literacy Minister Madhu Bangarappa's announcement on March 27 that starting this academic year, the government would replace the marks system for the third language in the SSLC (Class X) exam with a grading system that would not impact a student's overall results. However, this announcement was made before the third language exam.
Hearing a petition by some students, the court asked to conduct examinations as per 2025-26 notification.
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in Chamarajanagar, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that the court has asked the department to give marks this year for third language and decide on grade next year.
Reacting to the court declining to take up the review petition, Minister Madhu Bangarappa said the department will have to take note of the court direction and proceed accordingly.
He added that he has already updated CM Siddaramaiah about the court proceedings.
"Tomorrow evening we will have a discussion, as there are different situations. We were ensuring that our students do not face pressure. I have given a general briefing to the chief minister. We will talk tomorrow evening and announce the next steps in the coming days."
To a question that students are worried, the minister said they need not be because the results will be correct.
"There is nothing to worry about. You shouldn’t be afraid of this. Good results will come. And we will not delay it at all for sure. We will ensure that students are not kept under any tension. We will make arrangements to release the results on time," Bangarappa said.
On the result dates, he said he will get a clear picture after a meeting on Wednesday.
"Under no circumstances should students be under stress. The results will come soon. From our side, we have done our duty in support of Kannada. But when the court takes such a decision, we must respect it," the minister said.
Bengaluru, Apr 18 The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday declined to entertain the state government’s review petition against a single judge’s directions to conduct the valuation of the recently conducted SSLC examination as per the existing rules.
The government had appealed against the Karnataka HC directive, which would mean awarding marks and not grades for third language papers in the SSLC examination.
The bench presided over by Justice E S Indiresh took note of the fact that the new evaluation system was introduced after the SSLC exams. Even these changes in the examination were not notified by the state government.
The court maintained that the government neither promulgated rules nor passed the regular notification.
The new evaluation system proposes to grade third-language subjects individually, and not factor them in computing a student's final SSLC marks.
Advocate General Shashi Kiran Shetty argued that lakhs of students had failed in Hindi, which was their third language subject in the examination. Hence, the decision was taken to minimise the pressure on the students.
He also told the Court that the state government is coming up with appropriate amendment in the draft rule. Students are given grade instead of marks.
The court maintained that the state government should have clarified on this before issuing the notification.
The judge also noted that 83 per cent of students passed the examination. If the intention was to see everyone pass, why did it conduct the examination, the court said.
The court had earlier this week directed authorities to conduct the valuation of the recently conducted SSLC examination as per the existing rules, when the notification was issued for the examination for the 2025-26 academic year.
The court issued the directive while hearing a petition filed by three students who appeared for the SSLC exam held between March 18 and April 2.
The petition followed the School Education and Literacy Minister Bangarappa's announcement on March 27 that starting this academic year, the government would replace the marks system for the third language in the SSLC (Class X) exam with a grading system that would not impact a student's overall results. However, this announcement was made before the third language exam.
Hearing a petition by some students, the court asked to conduct examinations as per 2025-26 notification.
Sahana R. Naik v. State of Karnataka, (Karnataka) : Law Finder Doc Id # 2886427
