Cuttack, June 20: Orissa High Court today issued a suo motu contempt notice against the joint secretary (academics unit) of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), expressing displeasure at him for his comments with regard to the court order for re-evaluation of answer scripts on June 7.

The single-judge bench of Justice Biswanath Rath directed the joint secretary (academics unit) Manoj Srivastava to show cause by July 3 on why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against for his comment published in the media. The vacation court had on June 7 directed the CBSE for re-evaluation of the answer scripts of 22 students who had appeared for the Class-XII examination. On June 13, the vacation court had again directed CBSE for re-evaluation of answer scripts of another 158 students.

Srivastava has been quoted in the media saying: "Based on the erroneous submission made by the CBSE counsel, the HC passed the order on June 7 for re-evaluation of the answer sheets. But the CBSE has scrapped the re-evaluation system as a policy decision. So, we filed a review petition in the high court and are waiting for it its hearing on June 19. Besides, after the second HC order for re-evaluation of 158 students, we are waiting for further orders from the head office. Meanwhile, we are receiving applications from students."

Justice Rath further directed the CBSE regional office in Bhubaneswar to submit in court tomorrow at 12 noon all the records including the answer scripts which had been re-evaluated in pursuance of the June 7 order which expected completion of the entire exercise within three days by forming an expert committee for it.

In another development, the CBSE counsel mentioned the review petition before the division bench of Chief Justice Vineet Saran and Justice K.R. Mohapatra. The division bench directed for listing of the case tomorrow for hearing.

The CBSE, represented through its regional office in Bhubaneswar, filed the review petition on June 13 urging the high court to re-examine the order for "re-evaluation" of answer scripts of 22 Class-XII students which was issued by the court on June 7.

In the review petition, the CBSE clarified that in pursuance of the June 7 order, the regional office had immediately taken up re-evaluation work of the 22 petitioners. "Out of the 22 petitioners, 21 are either in the fail category or in the compartmental category and as per the revaluation there is no change in the status of the result and it continues to be as before," the review petition said.

After a preliminary hearing, the Vacation Court admitted the CBSE's review petition and posted the matter for hearing immediately after summer vacation when the court reopens on June 19. "Taking into consideration the rival contentions of the parties (the CBSE and petitioners) and the case law cited, this court is of the considered opinion that the matter requires consideration," Justice K.R. Mohapatra observed in his June 13 order.

Board panels

The CBSE to decided to set up two committees consisting of senior board officers to look into the problems related to the evaluation processes.

The first committee will enquire the process of evaluation and post-examination processes to identify and analyse discrepancies and suggest corrective measures to strengthen the process. The committee will submit its report within two months.

The second committee will study, analyse and suggest systemic improvements in the evaluation process to make the system robust. This committee will submit its report within three months of formation.