HC upholds CBSE’s decision to debar student for two years from taking class 12 exams for carrying phone inside exam hall

The High Court of Karnataka has upheld the decision of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to cancel all the examinations of a class 12 student, who carried a mobile phone inside the examination hall in Bengaluru in February 2025, and also debarring him from taking exams in all subjects even in the next year.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice C.M. Poonacha passed the order while allowing an appeal filed by the CBSE against the August 23, 2025, judgment of a single judge, who had directed the CBSE to announce the student’s result while quashing the penalty of debarring the student from taking exams for two academic years.

While the CBSE had passed the order in May 2025 disqualifying the student for taking exams for two academic years under cateogry-3 of unfair means in exams, he was declared successful in the JEE-Advanced Examination in June 2025. Interestingly, he had scored 92% in his class 10 CBSE exams.

Inverdently carried

He had carried the mobile phone on the first day of exams — for the Physical Education paper — and the invigilator had noticed the mobile phone in his pocket after about 25 minutes of commencement of exams. The invigilator seized the phone. The student had claimed that he entered the exam hall with a mobile phone inadvertently, as he came late to the exam centre.

The single judge had set aside the penalty imposed on him while noticing that the enquiry conducted by a committee constituted by the CBSE found that the mobile phone neither contained any copying material nor had the student copied anything from the mobile phone. The single judge treated the violation by the student as category-1 unfair means, which gives ‘benefit of doubt’ to a student in case of not using any copying material (including mobile phone) despite carrying a phone, and no evidence to establish foul intent.

Penalty as per guidelines

However, the bench found that the penalty imposed by the CBSE was strictly as per the guidelines on different categories of unfair means and penalties, and these guidelines were communicated to all the students, including through their admission cards, which specifically states that mobile phone is not allowed inside the exam hall.

When a penalty is implemented after being ratified by a committee of experts, a court cannot neither substitute its opinion with that of the expert body nor dilute the penalty by exercising its power under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the bench said while setting aside the relief granted to the student by the single judge.