In a major development, the Hyderabad High Court on Wednesday issued a notice to Globarena Technologies Pvt Ltd while asking the Board of Intermediate Education (BIE) to upload the answer sheets of the 3,82,112 students with the marks granted on the board’s website by May 27 besides releasing the results.

The court also ordered the government to make the answer sheets accessible for download from the website.

The High Court was hearing a petition by Balala Hakkula Sangham, an NGO working for child rights, which had demanded action against the officials responsible for the board results fiasco that resulted in more than 20 students killing themselves, and caused pain and agony to thousands of students and parents.

The court also issued a notice to Globarena, as the petitioner had on May 6 sought to make the technology firm a party to the issue, as it was Globarena that was hired by BIE to process the results and their software is allegedly the reason behind the fiasco.

The court is likely to take a decision on June 6 regarding compensation for the families of students who killed themselves following the fiasco.

The BIE informed the court that the process of re-verification has been completed.

Speaking to TNM, Achyutha Rao, Balala Hakkula Sangham president, said that the High Court’s decision is historical and would deliver justice to the bereaved families. The High Court’s order would allow students see their answer sheets and the marks given for each answer. Balala Hakkula Sangham, while describing the court’s decision as a victory for the students, demanded the release of compensation to the families without waiting for further orders from the court.

Speaking to the media, the petitioner’s counsel C Damodhar Reddy said that the court order was a fair one and welcomed the court’s direction to give students an opportunity to see their answer sheets and assess their marks.

BIE Secretary Ashok and Principal Secretary Janardhan Reddy as well as the Advocate General of the Telangana government appeared before the court.

About 9 lakh students had appeared for the Intermediate (Class 11 and 12) examinations held in February-March in the state. The board announced the results on April 18 but massive errors in the data triggered unrest among students with more than 20 students taking their own lives. A three-member committee constituted by the government faulted both BIE and Globarena Technologies.