The doctrine of legitimate expectation protects students' rights, requiring adherence to pre-announced assessment criteria; arbitrary changes post-examinations are impermissible.

JUDGMENT

Chandra Dhari Singh, J.

1. The instant writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India has been filed by the Petitioner assailing the Class XII Board results declared by the Central Board of Secondary Education (hereinafter referred to as the "CBSE") on 22nd July 2022, praying inter alia as under:

"(a) Issue a Writ of Mandamus directing the Respondents to declare the result of the Petitioner in terms of the Circular No. ACAD-51/21 dated 05.07.2021 factoring in the Special Scheme of Assessment which mandates equal weightage of the theory papers for Term- 1 and Term-2 while computing the result;

(b) Issue a Writ of Certiorari quashing the circular no. CBSE/CE/PPS/2022 dated 23.07.2022 which stipulates 30 percent weightage to Term -1 and 70 percent weightage to Term - 2 for computing the results;"

FACTUAL MATRIX

2. The matter has arisen out of the facts as detailed hereunder:

a. Petitioner is a student aged 18 years who was studying at Delhi Public School, Vasant Kunj and had appeared in the Class XII CBSE Board Examination for the Academic Session 2021-2022.

b. Respondent No. 1 is the CBSE represented through its Chairperson and Respondent No. 2 is the Union of India represented through its Secretary.

c. On 5th July 2021, the CBSE came up with a "Special Scheme of Assessment for Board Examination Classes X and XII for the Session 2021-22" bearing Circular No. Acad-51/2021.

d. Vide the said circular, it was conveyed that the CBSE has decided to conduct the 2022 Board examinations in two Terms i.e. Term-I & Term-II. The said scheme inter alia provided for "Assessment/Examination as per different situations" wherein four different scenarios were detailed and the consequent mode/manner and weightage of Term-I and Term-II examinations were notified.

e. It was further stated therein that in case the situation of the pandemic improved and students were able to come to schools or centres for taking the exams, then the Board would conduct Term I and Term II examinations at schools/centres and the theory marks will be distributed equally i.e. 50%-50%, between the two exams for preparation of the Results.

f. On 14th October 2021, CBSE issued a circular bearing no. CBSE/CE/EXAM-2021-22/ notifying that all examinations (Term-I and Term-II) will be conducted in an offline mode.

g. Term-I examinations for Class XII Board were held in schools/centres in a phased manner from 16th November 2021 to 30th December 2021.

h. On 19th March 2022, the result of Term-I was declared. CBSE on the same date issued a circular bearing no. CBSE/CE/2021 regarding the performance of the students of Class-XII in Term-I exams. The Circular inter alia stated that the weightage of Term-I and Term-II will be decided at the time of declaration of Term-II result and accordingly, the final performance will be calculated.

i. On 5th April 2022, the CBSE from its official/verified twitter handle (CBSE HQ:@cbseindia29) declared a notification, purported to be issued by the Board, as fake. The said notification described as being fake inter alia pertained to the weightage of Term-I and Term-II Board exams in the final results and mentioned that the result will be calculated by taking 30 per cent from Term-I exams and 70 per cent from Term-II exams.

j. Term-II examinations for Class XII Board were held in schools/centres in a phased manner from 26th April 2022 to 15th June 2022.

k. On 22nd July 2022, the CBSE declared the results for Class XII Board Examinations. This was followed by a Press Release bearing Ref. No. CBSE/CE/RESULTS- XII/2022 titled "Declaration of Results of Class XII, 2022", wherei