The Supreme Court pulled up the Karnataka government on Monday for "harassing" students by conducting board examinations for different classes, and restrained it from declaring the results of the board exams for Classes 8, 9 and 10 till further orders.

A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma directed that if the exam has not been conducted in any district, then it shall not be held.

"Why are you harassing the students? You are the State. You should not behave like this. Do not make it an ego issue. If you are really concerned about the welfare of students, then please open good schools. Do not throttle them," the bench told senior advocate Devadatt Kamat, who appeared before it on behalf of the state government.

The bench said no other state follows this model of education that is being followed by Karnataka.

Kamat said the Karnataka government has withdrawn a circular for conducting board examinations for the students of Classes 5, 8, 9 and 10 in the current academic year in seven rural districts of the southern state.

He said there was a drop in the students' academic performance due to which the government had resorted to this move.

The court was informed by the petitioners that the examinations were conducted in 24 other districts as well.

Advocates K V Dhananjay and A Velan, appearing in the court on behalf of the petitioners, said earlier they had circulars for seven districts and had brought the matter to the apex court's notice.

"They (the state government) withdrew the circular for seven districts. Later, we came to know that the circulars were issued for 24 other districts as well. Therefore, we had not alleged earlier," Dhananjay said.

The bench took all the circulars on record and asked the state government to file an affidavit with the exact details of the examinations in four weeks.

The court was hearing an appeal filed by the Organisation for Unaided Recognised Schools against a March 22 judgment of the Karnataka High Court.

A division bench of the high court had allowed the state to conduct the board exams for different classes for the academic year 2023-24, overruling a March 6 order of a single-judge bench.

The single judge of the high court had nullified the state government's October 2023 decision to hold board exams for different classes through the Karnataka State Examination and Assessment Board (KSEAB).

On April 8, the apex court stayed the order of the high court's division bench and an April 6 order passed by the Karnataka School Quality Assessment and Accreditation Council "till further orders".

"This is a classic instance whereby no one else than the state government of Karnataka has sought to create a havoc and great distress not only amongst the students and their parents, but also amongst the teachers and school managements in the state of Karnataka," the bench had then noted.

Last week, the top court was informed by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the state government had withdrawn the notification.

"The withdrawal is done. It was a mistake on our part. I can assure my learned friend that even if exams were conducted, no results will be out...," he had said.

The bench had asked why the state government was bent on troubling the parents and children.

"There appears to be some ego problem on part of the state," Justice Trivedi had said.

Mehta had, however, clarified that there were some errors in granting marks in three districts, which also become the reason behind the notification for conducting the examinations.

The bench had then posted the matter after a week.

The petitioners had previously informed the bench that despite the apex court's interim order staying the board examinations for Classes 5, 8, 9, 10 and 11, the state government conducted a half-yearly board exam for Class 10 and a public exam for Classes 8 and 9 in September.

The bench had asked the petitioners to file a contempt application against the state for the alleged defiance of its order, after the petitioners said the government's move despite the stay order amounted to contempt.

The division bench of the Karnataka High Court had interpreted the notifications issued by the state government regarding the board exams as guidelines rather than strict regulations, based on its understanding of the powers granted under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.

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