The court confirmed the legitimacy of students' expectations against retrospective alteration of assessment criteria impacting their academic prospects, while clarifying that judgments must be stable unless fundamental legal errors exist.

JUDGMENT :

MURALEE KRISHNA S., J.

1. These intra-Court appeals are filed by the petitioner and the 1^st respondent, respectively, in W.P.(C)No.10389 of 2023, under Section 5(i) of the Kerala High Court Act, 1958, challenging the judgment dated 12.03.2025 passed by the learned Single Judge in that writ petition. For convenience of reference, the parties are hereinafter referred to in this judgment in their status as they were in the writ petition, unless otherwise stated.

2. According to the petitioner, his son, who is a minor student aged 17 years, completed his schooling at Anand Sagar Public School in Sangli District in Maharashtra, and had appeared in the Class XII Examination conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (‘CBSE’ in short) for the Academic Session 2021-2022. When the results were announced, the marks awarded to him were unduly low, which disqualified him from getting admission in the institutions under the Indian Maritime University, 2022, and also admissions through JEE. Petitioner claims that the reason for his son’s marks being low is partly clear from CBSE’s press release on 22.07.2022 which begins by highlighting a compassionate ground that the predominant majority of students had not been able to perform to their full potential in Term I exams, and therefore, CBSE introduced a change in weightage for the Class XII exam conducted during 2021-22, as a compassionate measure to help one category of candidates, namely the low performing candidates. According to the petitioner, the modification effected by CBSE after completion of examinations, of the earlier announced 50%-50% weightage formula to 30-70, has resulted in the reduction of the overall marks of the petitioner’s son from 74.14% to 71.2%. As per the New weightage formula, his average in Physics, Chemistry and Maths (PCM) gets reduced from 64.48% to 58%, whereby his son was disqualified from admissions to institutions under the Indian Maritime University, which require a minimum PCM average of 60% in Class XII. The Petitioner’s son had the legitimate expectation not to have the rules of the game changed or not have a reduction of his marks after the examination. The marks secured by the petitioner’s son as awarded to him by examiners, based on how they assessed his answer sheets, were overall 74.14% with a PCM average of 64.48%, which he would have received under the original 50:50 scheme; but since CBSE has changed the marks of some other children on compassionate grounds using a 30:70 formula, then the relative merit of the petitioner’s son, as per marks secured, should have been maintained and protected when changing the marks of the other low-performing candidates. Indian Maritime University (IMU) requires a minimum PCM Average of 60%. Since the National Testing Agency (NTA) has reintroduced the 75% criterion for admissions through JEE, the petitioner’s son would not be eligible for admissions. He, despite having registered for JEE, did not write Session 1 on January 23 and lost his opportunity. Though the petitioner approached the respondents several times pointing out the grievance, all went in vein. Hence, the petitioner filed the writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking the following reliefs:

“(i) Writ of Mandamus or other appropriate writ, order or direction, directing the respondents 1 and 2, to reissue, preferably before 30 April 2023, and certainly prior to the declaration of the CBSE results of 2023 Board Exams, to the petitioner’s son’s a composite mark sheet for all his 5 subjects, for the Academic Year 2021-2022, amending the marks of the petitioner’s son as necess