The main legal point established in the judgment is that the Board is empowered to correct an erroneous result within six months from its declaration, as per Rule 102(2) of the Maharashtra Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Boards Regulations, 1977, and that the failure to rectify the error would have a detrimental impact on the student's academic year and future career.

JUDGMENT

1. By the above Writ Petition, the Petitioner is seeking the following relief:

"B. That this Hon'ble Court by appropriate Writ / Order / direction, may be pleased to direct the Respondent No. 2 Divisional Board to issue corrected mark sheet to the Petitioner and consequently communication of the Respondent No. 1 Board dated 21.09.2021 - Exh. G may be quashed and set aside."

2. It will be apposite to briefly state the relevant facts:-

2.1 The Petitioner is a minor below 18 years of age and recently appeared for her HSC Board Examination (Standard XIIth) from Respondent No.2 Nashik Divisional Board (hereinafter referred to as "the Board"). The Petition is filed through her father / natural guardian. Respondent No. 3 is the Brahma Valley Public School and Jr. College where the Petitioner had secured Admission for Standard XIIth. The result of the Petitioner for HSC was declared on 3rd August, 2021. The Statement of Marks shows that the Petitioner has scored 84 marks out of 100 in Biology.

2.2. It is the case of the Petitioner that she has never selected nor opted for "Biology" as one of her subjects in Standard XII. According to the Petitioner, she has opted for Mathematics as a subject in place of "Biology" and therefore "Mathematics" ought to have been stated in her Statement of Marks which is annexed as Exhibit F at Page 23 to the Petition.

2.3 The Petitioner states that due to this inadvertence/error/mistake on the part of Respondent No. 3 College in feeding the correct data online, the aforesaid mistake has occurred whereby instead of "Mathematics" the subject "Biology" appears in the Petitioners Statement of Marks. The Petitioner states that she has filled her examination form for HSC examination wherein she has opted for "Maths" as her optional subject and not "Biology". This examination form is annexed as Exhibit A, Page 16 to the Petition. It is stated that since during the last academic year no examination was conducted due to COVID 19 pandemic and the consequent lockdown, necessary assessment of marks for declaration of HSC results was to be based upon the total of 30% of the average marks secured by the Petitioner during the 10th standard, 30% of the average marks secured by the Petitioner during the term tests held in the 11th standard and 40% of the average marks secured by the Petitioner during the 12th standard.

2.4. Since the Petitioner has opted for Mathematics as her subject and desires to pursue further studies in the Engineering faculty, it is contended that due to the erroneous HSC result which states that the Petitioner has obtained 84 marks out of 100 in Biology, she is unable to further apply to engineering colleges and has therefore moved this Court for seeking direction to the Respondent Nos.1 and 2 to correct her Statement of Marks and issue the corrected mark sheet.

3. Mr. Anilkumar Patil, Learned Advocate appearing for the Petitioner has submitted that the error in the Statement of Marks stating that the Petitioner has obtained 84 marks out of 100 in Biology has occurred due to the mistake of the Respondent No. 3 College and the same has been admitted by the College.

4. Advocate Sugandh Deshmukh appearing for the Respondent No. 3 College has supported the Petitioner's case and has accepted the mistake of the College. He has placed before us copy of the Admission Form filled in by the Petitioner for the academic year 2020-21 with the College, wherein the Petitioner has selected and opted for Maths as a subject and not Biology. Perusal of the said Admission Form dated 02.09.2020 filled in by the Petitioner shows that the Petitioner has clearly opted for Maths and not Biology. He submitted that since the Petitioner had opted for Biology during her first year junior college i.e XIth standard academic year, the said mistake of feeding the subject Biology instead of Mathematics has taken place on behalf of the data entry operator of the College.

4.1. Advocate Deshmukh has also placed on record a copy of the