The Supreme Court  was informed on Thursday that the remaining CBSE and ICSE Board examinations for classes X and XII, which were scheduled to be held in July, have been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), submitted before a bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar, which also comprised Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna, that Class X and XII board examinations scheduled from July 1-15 have been cancelled.The Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) told the bench that it has also decided to cancel the exam and would broadly follow the government’s decision on CBSE exams.

The apex court directed the CBSE and the Centre to issue a fresh notification on class XII exams dealing with issues including the option of re-examination and internal assessment, date of results and status of re-examination keeping in mind the COVID-19 situation in different states.

“You have said that you will conduct exams when the situation is conducive. But the situation may be different from state to state… Will the decision be taken by a central authority or will the state take the decision. How are you going to deal with that situation,” the bench said while asking CBSE to come up with the fresh notification.The court was hearing pleas seeking relief, including the scrapping of remaining exams of Class XII scheduled from July 1-15, in view of the increasing number of COVID-19 cases. Similar reliefs were sought from ICSE Board also.