The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to hear a plea seeking an order to the Delhi government and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to waive the examination fee for students appearing for their class X and XII board exam in the current academic year. Keeping in view the Covid-19 situation and the subsequent financial problems faced by some parents, the plea was filed before the top court.

"How can the court direct the government to do this? You should give a representation to the government...Dismissed,” a bench Justices Ashok Bhushan, R. Subhash Reddy and M.R Shah told an NGO called “Social Jurist”, who filed the petition against the September 28 order of the Delhi High Court.

The High Court had directed the state government and the CBSE to treat the appeal as a representation and take a call within three weeks "in accordance with law, rules, regulations and government policy applicable to the facts of the case".

The plea said that due to the economic effects of the lockdown, income of several parents had disappeared to a level that they cannot even arrange meals for their family, adding that the HC’s direction had resulted in denial of relief to three lakh students in Delhi, and 30 lakh in the country.

Filed through lawyer Ashok Agarwal, the PIL sought the waiver of the fees and said that the Centre should pay them through the PM Cares fund in the country, and the AAP government should do the same.

"In the current year 2020-21, CBSE has demanded Examination fee from Rs 1,500 to Rs 1,800 from students of class X and Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,400 from class XII students depending upon number of subjects, practical, etc,” it said.

The Delhi government had paid the examination fees of CBSE students appearing for their board examinations last year, but this year it has refused to do so citing financial crunch, the PIL said.

Starting in 2019, the education board had hiked the examination fees for classes X and XII. According to the new structure, students had to pay Rs 1,500 — double the Rs 750 they paid until 2018. In case of students abroad, the amount had doubled as well from — Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 — as had the fee for appearing for any extra paper.