Source HT
NEW DELHI — The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is preparing to slap heavy financial penalties on its digital evaluation partner, Coempt Edu Teck, following serious security vulnerabilities and glitches in the Class 12 On-Screen Marking (OSM) system. However, official documents reveal that the board will not be able to blacklist the Hyderabad-based firm due to quiet changes made to the contract rules right before it was signed.
The board’s digital evaluation system—introduced at scale this year to replace physical paper checking—sparked a massive national row after students reported missing pages, blurred scans, and completely mixed-up answer sheets.
Security Flaws and Student Outcry
The pressure on CBSE intensified dramatically after 19-year-old ethical hacker Nisarga Adhikary demonstrated that student answer sheets stored on an Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud container were publicly exposed. Adhikary revealed that an improper configuration allowed anyone to easily browse and download the 2026 exam papers and student files.
While CBSE quicky deployed cybersecurity experts from various government arms and IITs to plug the leaks, officials have privately conceded that a significant student data breach did occur.
Furthermore, student activists and political leaders like Rahul Gandhi have alleged that the vendor compromised the scanning quality by using mobile phones instead of heavy-duty industrial scanners. This resulted in an unprecedented wave of faulty digital scripts, forcing the board to rescan over 68,000 answer books and manually re-evaluate more than 13,000 others.
Heavy Fines, But No Blacklist
According to senior board officials, Coempt Edu Teck will face strict financial consequences under the Service Level Agreements (SLAs) outlined in the tender rules. The penalty system includes:
₹1 Lakh fine for every 15-minute delay in fixing a critical error (such as information leaks or data security breaches) after it is flagged by the board.
₹5,000 fine for every hour of delay regarding onsite technical support or training errors.
Forfeiture of the company’s performance bank guarantees and eventual contract termination.
Despite these cascading fines, the board’s hands are tied regarding long-term disqualification.
While the initial August 2025 Request for Proposal (RFP) allowed a CBSE committee to blacklist the vendor for “critical” or repeated “other mistakes,” a corrigendum (an official amendment) issued on September 20, 2025, systematically deleted the word “Blacklisting” from those clauses. Coempt Edu Teck was subsequently awarded the contract on December 5.
Political Backlash
The revelation that the blacklisting criteria was scrubbed from the tender has triggered severe political heat. Opposing leaders have openly questioned the Ministry of Education and CBSE’s handling of the process, suggesting that the tender rules were intentionally diluted to favor and protect the vendor.
“In September, the CBSE issued a corrigendum which took away its own power to blacklist these vendors,” stated Congress leader Jairam Ramesh in a public post. “This is an inexplicable attempt to save the company, and it began even before they got the contract officially.”
CBSE has maintained that no payments have yet been released to the vendor. The final calculation of financial penalties will be compiled after the ongoing student re-evaluation and supplementary examination processes conclude.
This video provides additional context on how the tender rules were reportedly altered, giving further background on the ongoing controversy surrounding the selection of the OSM vendor.
