CBSE chairman, secretary transferred amid on-screen marking row; probe ordered into tender process
The Chairman and Secretary of the Central Board of Secondary Education — Rahul Singh and Himanshu Gupta — have been transferred amid mounting controversy over the board's newly introduced On-Screen Marking (OSM) system.
The move comes while the board is in the process of declaring examination results and continues to face criticism over changes made to the OSM tender process and alleged irregularities in answer-sheet evaluation.
One-member panel to probe procurement process
The government has constituted a one-member committee to examine the procurement of on-screen marking services.
The panel will be headed by S. Radha Chauhan, Chairperson of the Capacity Building Commission.
The committee has been asked to submit its findings to the Department of Personnel and Training within a month.
Answer-sheet mix-ups, evaluation errors trigger complaints
The OSM system has come under fire over a range of reported issues, including answer-sheet mismatches, evaluation errors, faulty checking procedures and incorrect grade allocation.
Several students who sought scanned copies of their answer sheets alleged that the uploaded documents did not belong to them.
CBSE officials have acknowledged that around 20 answer-sheet mismatch cases were identified during the evaluation process.
Students and cybersecurity experts have also flagged technical vulnerabilities in the system, citing security loopholes, payment failures and the uploading of blurred or incomplete answer sheets.
CBSE deploys cybersecurity team
In response to the concerns, CBSE launched a dedicated portal linked to the OnMark platform operated by its service provider. The board said it had engaged cybersecurity experts from various government agencies and the Indian Institutes of Technology to strengthen the system's security framework.
The portal will remain operational until midnight on June 6, 2026.
What is the tender controversy?
CBSE had awarded the contract for digital scanning and on-screen evaluation of answer sheets to Hyderabad-based Coempt Edu Teck.
Documents from the tender process show that when the board first floated the tender on August 28, 2025, it included provisions allowing a CBSE committee to recommend forfeiture of the Performance Bank Guarantee (PBG), termination of the contract and blacklisting of vendors in cases of serious violations.
Final contract dropped blacklisting provision
However, the final six-page agreement reportedly removed the blacklisting clause.
The contract retained financial penalties and termination provisions.
It imposed a penalty of Rs 1 lakh for every 15-minute delay in resolving critical issues flagged by CBSE and another Rs 1 lakh penalty for every 60-minute delay in submitting a root-cause analysis and corrective action plan.
The agreement also empowered CBSE to forfeit security deposits and terminate the contract in severe cases.
Parliament takes up the matter
The controversy has also reached Parliament, with Opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, accusing CBSE and the government of serious lapses involving blurred answer sheets, mobile-phone scanning and potential student data breaches.
The Standing Committee on Education summoned CBSE officials and the Education Secretary to explain the reported evaluation discrepancies and concerns over re-evaluation fees.
Student raises concerns before Parliamentary Panel
On Monday, 17-year-old Jharkhand student Sarthak Sidhant, who claims to have been affected by the online marking system, made a presentation before a parliamentary panel examining the issue.
According to reports, he highlighted alleged anomalies in the vendor-selection process and presented a series of questions regarding the board's handling of the OSM tender and evaluation system.
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