new delhi after letting off telecom service providers off the consumer hook the supreme court has now held that secondary boards conducting examinations for lakhs of students across the country every year would not be liable under the consumer protection act for bungling in admit cards roll numbers and results even if it meant loss of an academic year to a studentthis apex court judgment set aside a concurrent finding of a district consumer forum the state panel and the national consumer disputes redressal commission ncdrc all holding that the boards were liable under the consumer lawruling on the controversy whether an examination board came under the purview of the consumer protection act a bench comprising justices r v raveendran and markandey katju held we are clearly of the view that the examination board is not a service provider and a student who takes an examination is not a consumerall three consumer fora had held that the board was liable under the consumer protection act 1986 and directed it to pay compensation to a student who lost a year due to lapse on part of the board in issuing his result sheetthe student rajesh kumar had in 1998 taken an examination conducted by the bihar school education board which had issued identical roll number 496 to him as well as another student the superintendent at the examination centre allowed rajesh to appear in the test with a roll number 496a this created a confusion in the board which withheld rajeshs resultwhen rajesh petitioned the board for declaration of his result he was asked to reappear in the board examination in 1999 frustrated by the loss of one year for no fault of his the student moved the district consumer forum at hazaribagh which held the board guilty of deficiency in service and asked it to pay rajesh rs 12000 with 12 interestsetting aside the order the bench said the fact that in the course of conduct of the examination or evaluation of answer scripts or furnishing of mark sheets or certificates there may be some negligence omission or deficiency does not convert the board into a service provider for a consideration nor convert the examinee into a consumer who can make a complaint under the actdhananjaymahapatratimesgroupcom