Bhubaneswar, June 20: Students who were caught cheating in the Plus Two exams held this March would be given an opportunity to defend themselves.

The Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE) took this decision as part of their exam reform measures and to help innocent candidates from being framed in malpractice incidents.

CHSE officials said they would bring out a notification asking aggrieved students to appeal before the council if they wished to be heard by the examination committee.

Over 2.81 lakh candidates appeared for Plus Two this year of which around 2,620 students were booked for resorting to illegal means. According to rules, when a student is booked for malpractice, his/her results are withheld and he/she has to appear for the particular paper the following year.

Interested candidates can make an appeal within 15 days of the notification. They would then be asked to report at their respective exam centres and put forth their version with regard to the malpractice allegations.

Similarly, the squad, which booked the particular student for malpractice, would be asked to substantiate its allegations with proof.

The examination committee, after verifying the case, will decide if the student is guilty.

“In case the student is found to be right and the council is convinced of his innocence, the paper of the particular student will be evaluated,” said vice-chairman of the council Girija Shankar Acharya.

Those found guilty would be awarded zero in that paper during which the candidate was caught cheating and can appear for exams next year.

Earlier, students found with materials other than their admit cards were booked for malpractice. The inspection squads used to seize the material and attach it to the answer papers with details about the episode.

However, on several occasions, it was found that the seized materials did not relate to the subject paper, which the student was appearing for when caught.

There were also instances when the students never used the cheating materials despite having them. In some other cases, innocent students were wrongly booked as result of mischief or revenge by fellow classmates or teachers.

“Such students often approached the court seeking intervention, thus delaying the entire examination process. The effort of the council is to put a check on such cases,” said Acharya.

Meanwhile, over 80,000 students across the state, including 5,000 from the capital, have applied for re-addition of their Plus Two marks. The number of such applications has shot up as Plus Two marks are taken into account for admissions to major institutions as well as those of national repute.

The last date for applying for re-addition is June 28.