The Maharashtra State Board for Secondary and Higher Secondary Education has issued a notification regarding the refund of the examination fee. The Board stated that it will refund the exam fee collected from the students of Class 10 and Class 12.

The Board will refund the fee collected for the purpose of board exams in Feb-March 2021.

The Board took the decision nearly 03 months after the decision of the Bombay High Court. The Bombay HC directed the Board to refund the after some activists questioned about the fee charged by it for board exams during the COVID times. According to the petition, the board charged Rs. 150 crores from around 34 lakh HSC and SSC students in the COVID year when board exams across states and education boards were cancelled. The petitioners asked why the state board has not returned the fee to the students for the exams cancelled due to Covid-19.

The MSBSHSE states, "Both the SSC and HSC exams were scrapped this year due to increasing Covid-19 cases. Following the Bombay HC order, the state board has decided to refund exam fee amount to respective students".

To receive their exam fee, the students must log in at mahagsscboard.in and fill in the necessary information of individual students. The form filling process will start from Nov 12.

Earlier in July, a retired school principal from Sangli filed a petition in the Bombay HC questioning the decision of the state board to not refund exam fees. The petitioner informed that the Board, like every year, charged Rs. 520 each from around 16 lakh HSC students and Rs. 415 each from around 17 lakh SSC students in the academic year 2020-21. This accounts for approx Rs. 150 crores, which should be returned to respective students, he pointed out, since no exam was conducted.

Schools, students, parents, and activists from across the state have been continuously demanding for fee refund, but the final decision was released on Nov 11 by the state board.