NSUI Asks Delhi HC to Probe CBSE Online Exam Failures Affecting Lakhs of Students

Two law students backed by the National Students' Union of India filed a petition in the Delhi High Court on Monday, asking judges to order an independent investigation into widespread technical failures that disrupted CBSE's online examination system earlier this year. Rishav Ranjan and Eesha Bakshi, both representing NSUI, submitted that lakhs of students across India faced眼睁睁地看着 their board examinations derailed by systemic glitches in the OSM portal during the 2024 assessment cycle.

The petition names the Central Board of Secondary Education as the primary respondent and demands that the court appoint a technical expert committee to audit the examination platform's infrastructure. NSUI's legal team argues that the board failed to provide adequate technical support when the portal crashed during peak examination hours, leaving students unable to submit answers and causing months of administrative chaos.

Students Left Stranded During Critical Exams

In written submissions seen by this publication, NSUI alleged that the CBSE OSM system experienced server failures on at least 12 separate dates between February and April 2024, when over 35 lakh students were attempting to appear for their Summative assessments. Examinations in mathematics, science, and social studies were repeatedly postponed in multiple states after the portal became unresponsive.

The glitches struck hardest in states including Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Karnataka, where students reported being locked out of the examination interface mid-test. Some candidates alleged their answers were not saved after the system rebooted, while others said they received error messages prompting them to re-login — only to find their session had expired with no record of their progress.

Eesha Bakshi, speaking outside the courtroom complex in Delhi on Monday afternoon, said the impact on students was not merely administrative. "Many students from economically weaker backgrounds had prepared for months, only to find the system failed them on the day of their exam," she told reporters. "The board's response was to simply reschedule without acknowledging the psychological and academic damage caused."

CBSE Defends Platform, Questions Petitioner's Standing

The Central Board of Secondary Education responded to the petition by filing a preliminary objection questioning whether NSUI, as a students' union, had sufficient legal standing to challenge examination policy decisions. The board's counsel argued that individual students affected by the glitches should have filed separate complaints through established grievance mechanisms rather than pursuing public interest litigation.

CBSE also maintained that the OSM system was a pilot initiative launched to modernise assessment delivery and that any technical hiccups were addressed promptly through manual examination arrangements. The board stated in its filing that 94 percent of scheduled examinations proceeded without reported issues and that affected students were offered re-examination opportunities within 15 days of the original test date.

Technical Experts Question Board Accountability

Former CBSE examination coordinators, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the OSM platform was awarded to a private vendor following a 2022 tender process. Sources familiar with the contract suggest the agreement included performance guarantees that the board has so far declined to make public. Questions about whether the vendor faced financial penalties for the service disruptions remain unanswered.

Software engineers consulted by this publication noted that platforms handling high-stakes examinations for millions of concurrent users require extensive load testing and redundant server architecture. "What happened with CBSE's OSM suggests either inadequate preparation or cost-cutting measures that compromised reliability," said one industry professional who reviewed the incident reports.

Legal Arguments Centre on Right to Education

NSUI's petition invokes Article 21 of the Constitution, arguing that access to a functioning and fair examination system falls within the right to life and personal liberty. The petitioners contend that technical failures constituting more than 10 percent of scheduled examination windows cannot be dismissed as routine operational issues when they affect students' academic trajectories and future college admissions.

Rishav Ranjan, who filed the accompanying affidavit, said the petition specifically asks the court to direct CBSE to disclose the technical specifications and service level agreements it maintained with the OSM platform vendor. "Students and their parents have a right to know whether the board exercised due diligence before entrusting national examinations to a private technology partner," he stated.

Precedent Points to Possible Judicial Intervention

Legal experts tracking the case noted that the Delhi High Court has previously intervened in examination-related disputes when systemic failures threatened students' academic futures. A 2019 ruling directed the National Institute of Open Schooling to award fresh examinations to candidates whose answer sheets were lost in transit, establishing that administrative inconvenience does not outweigh a student's right to fair assessment.

NSUI's counsel, arguing before a division bench, pointed to that precedent and asked judges to issue mandamus directing CBSE to commission an independent technical audit. The petition also requests that the board be directed to establish a permanent grievance redressal mechanism before any future online examination cycle.

Students Watch Court Proceedings Closely

Reaction among students and parents has been swift since news of the petition spread through social media platforms. Parents' groups in Delhi-NCR, where the highest concentration of CBSE-affiliated schools operates, have urged the court to expedite hearings. Several online forums have seen thousands of posts sharing individual accounts of examination day disruptions, with some students claiming they lost entire terms of preparation due to cancelled and rescheduled tests.

CBSE has not announced any independent compensation or academic leniency for affected students beyond rescheduled examination dates. The board's official guidance, updated in May, states that students unable to appear during the replacement window may apply for special examination arrangements — a process that requires school-level certification and is not automatically available.

What Happens Next in Court

The Delhi High Court is expected to hear arguments on admissibility when NSUI's petition surfaces on the board's regular roster next month. Should the court accept the petition, it will likely fix a date for CBSE to file its detailed reply and consider whether to appoint the technical expert committee sought by the petitioners.

Watch for the board's next official communication regarding the 2025 examination cycle, which is scheduled to begin registration in August. Whether NSUI's challenge prompts CBSE to abandon the OSM platform entirely or overhaul its vendor contracts will depend heavily on how the court frames its initial observations during the coming weeks.