The Department of Pre-University Education on Thursday said grace marks were awarded to only those students who had attempted eight contentious questions in the mathematics paper of the II pre-university exam held in April.
In a statement filed before the High Court of Karnataka, the DPUE said grace marks were awarded to students who had attempted question numbers 3, 13, 16, 20, 24, 33, 43, and 49 (b).
Allegation denied
It was made clear in the statement that no grace marks were awarded to students who did not attempt any of these questions, while denying the allegations made in a PIL petition that all the students were awarded grace marks in the maths paper.
Justifying the decision of the evaluating body to adopt “liberal valuation”, the DPUE said the Central Board of Secondary Education too awards grace marks to students based on its bylaw as per the criteria decided from time to time.
Opposing the plea of the petitioner, Bhuvana Jyothi Educational Trust, to consider only the marks obtained in the common entrance test for all professional courses owing to awarding of grace marks, the DPUE said such a move would only cause hardship for the students who were preparing for allotment of seats for professional courses, and any change in the circumstance would only worsen the situation.
Claiming that none of the aggrieved parties [students] were before the court, the DPUE said in the statement that “there is a danger of succumbing to the imaginary grievance of unseen aggrieved candidates and in the process, of harming the interests of the entire student community, which is now at the threshold of getting seats allotted by the Karnataka Examinations Authority”.
