The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the CBSE to declare results of compartment exams of around 2 lakh students as soon as possible, so that they could apply in colleges by the cut-off date.

A bench comprising Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and Sanjiv Khanna urged the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the University Grants Commission (UGC) to devise an arrangement on the issue.

The observation from the top court came on a plea seeking extension of college admission deadlines in the backdrop of delayed compartment exams.

Senior advocate Vivek Tankha, representing petitioners, submitted before the bench that the compartment exams will begin on Tuesday and end on September 29, and if the college admissions were over before the results were announced then the students would lose out on the opportunity for the current academic year.

The bench asked the UGC that this being a peculiar situation and could it explore making some room for students taking the compartment exam.

“Academic career of 2 lakh students cannot be hampered. If the CBSE declares results by end of October, then you can wrap up admissions by first week of November,” noted the bench.

The counsel appearing for the UGC submitted that the academic calendar has been finalized and the admissions would conclude by the end of October.

The bench asked the UGC to hold the academic calendar till September 24. “Let CBSE inform us and then you both coordinate. Two lakh students — is not a small number… You need to work in tandem with CBSE,” the bench told the UGC counsel.

The CBSE counsel contended before the bench that the compartment papers would have to be checked in 16 regional centres, therefore it could take nearly 4 weeks to declare the results. The bench has scheduled the hearing of the matter on Thursday.