The Commissioner General of Examinations, Amith Jayasundara says a decision has been made to award free marks to all students for the three questions which were alleged to have been leaked in the 2024 Grade 05 Scholarship Examination, as per the recent Supreme Court order.

On Tuesday (31), the Supreme Court declared that the fundamental human rights have been violated through the Cabinet of Ministers’ decision to award free marks to all students for the three questions of the 2024 Grade 05 Scholarship Examination which are alleged to have been leaked.

Accordingly, the court also ordered the Commissioner General of Examinations to immediately implement a suitable recommendation out of the three recommendations made by the experts’ committee appointed to look into the matter.

The three recommendations were;

1. Removing the compromised test items from scoring

2. Awarding free marks for all the candidates for the compromised questions

3. Re-administering a new test

Issuing a statement today with this regard, the Commissioner General of Examinations stated that accordingly, following a thorough consideration of all pros and cons of the three recommendations made by the experts’ committee, it was decided that the second option was the “most fair” and the “most suitable” solution for the issue.

Issuing the verdict on Tuesday, the Supreme Court had declared that both the provisions of the Constitution as well as the provisions of the Public Examinations Act would not empower either the Minister or the Secretary to the Ministry to participate in the decision-making process, issue directions to the Commissioner of Examinations, assume to themselves the decision-making power, or influence the process in a manner that would take away, curtail or inhibit the discretionary authority vested in the Commissioner of Examinations by the Public Examinations Act. 

“This does not mean that the public functionary cannot engage in a process of consultation with the Minister or the Secretary, subject to the important caveat that the final decision must always be that of the public functionary who is required by law to take such decision”, the court verdict reads.

Furthermore, the Supreme Court had also stated that however, neither the authority vested in the Minister and the Secretary to engage in superintendence, nor the authority to supervise the functions of the Commissioner of Examinations would include legal authority to usurp the power vested in the Commissioner of Examinations and that similarly, the Commissioner of Examinations cannot abdicate expressly or impliedly either to the Minister or to the Secretary, the decision-making authority vested in him by law.

During previous hearings, the court was informed that the Cabinet of Ministers had recommended to award free marks to all students for the 03 questions which were alleged to have been leaked in the 2024 Grade 5 Scholarship Examination.