The Delhi High Court on Monday said the Central Board of Secondary Education’s decision to scrap its marks moderation policy was “unfair” and “irresponsible”, PTI reported. The petition in the High Court was moved by a parent and a lawyer opposing the CBSE’s notification issued in April.

The CBSE had said that grace marks policy was no longer valid for students, including those who have appeared for the 2016-2017 board examinations. The petitioners had complained that the policy was scrapped through a notification after the students had appeared for the examinations.

The Delhi High Court asked why the policy could not be implemented again from upcoming academic year as the results for 2016-2017 exams were expected to be out in a few days. The CBSE’s decision will have a “drastic” effect on the students, the High Court bench added.

The petition had also contended that since Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh school boards had decided to implement the policy change starting next academic year, the students from these states were set to fare better than those from other states. Advocate Balbir Singh, appearing for the petitioners, argued that state board students would score more than the CBSE students which may pose a problem for students who appeared for Class 12 examinations and would be seeking admissions in universities.

Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain told the High Court that the CBSE board had written to the Delhi University to provide some relaxation to CBSE students. However, the Delhi University had not done anything in this regard yet, he added.

In April, the CBSE and 31 other school boards had announced to scrap the policy under which students are usually given up to 15% extra marks for attempting tough questions in examinations. The inflated scores, in turn, force colleges to set their cut-off marks at 100%. However, the practice of giving grace marks will continue if a student needs a few marks to clear an examination, the board had said. But these extra marks will be disclosed on the candidate’s marksheet.