Telangana CM Revanth Reddy has sought to link the present CBSE row to the previous BRS government's decision not to blocklist the company, and has said that his govt would revisit the 2019 episode.

Telangana CM Revanth Reddy has sought to link the present CBSE row to the previous BRS government's decision not to blocklist the company, and has said that his govt would revisit the 2019 episode.

Telangana CM Revanth Reddy has sought to link the present CBSE row to the previous BRS government's decision not to blocklist the company, and has said that his govt would revisit the 2019 episode.

During a recent media interaction, Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy attacked Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) working president K.T. Rama Rao over his alleged links with Globarena Technologies, the firm at the centre of the 2019 Intermediate examination results controversy in Telangana. The company's present form, Coempt EduTeck has also been linked to the CBSE paper evaluation row.

In 2019, the company’s software failure caused a storm after more than three lakh students were declared failed amid widespread complaints of missing marks, incorrect scores, and other discrepancies.

A government-appointed committee subsequently identified serious procedural and technical failures involving both the Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education and Globarena.

The crisis triggered widespread protests and demands for reverification of answer scripts. It was followed by the suicide deaths of more than 22 students, intensifying public anger over the handling of the results. Globarena was subsequently dropped by the Intermediate Board, but was not blocklisted.

Revanth Reddy alleged that Globarena had links with KTR and accused the previous BRS government of protecting the company. He also announced that his government would reopen the 2019 issue and investigate the circumstances surrounding the examination controversy. KTR has rejected the allegations and denied having any ownership of—or financial relationship with—Globarena.

Less than six months after the 2019 controversy, Globarena Technologies changed its name to Coempt EduTeck. The company later secured a multi-crore contract from the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) for its On-Screen Marking (OSM) system, introduced to digitise and digitally evaluate Class 12 board answer sheets. The rollout, however, became embroiled in controversy following complaints over the new evaluation system.

Students and teachers reported blurred scans, answer-sheet mismatches, and technical disruptions, although Coempt has denied that these resulted from a failure of its software. The controversy generated more than 70,000 grievances and requests relating to marks, verification and scanned answer sheets.

Cyber security concerns added another dimension to the controversy after a young security researcher demonstrated vulnerabilities in the system's infrastructure, raising questions over the security of examination data.

Coempt maintained that the vulnerability involved a dummy test server and did not compromise actual examination data. Amid the controversy, CBSE shifted answer-sheet records and examination data from Coempt-managed infrastructure to servers under its own control and initiated action against the company over lapses associated with the rollout.

The controversy also revived questions in Telangana over the handling of Globarena after the 2019 Intermediate results crisis. Revanth Reddy has sought to link the present CBSE controversy to the previous BRS government's decision not to blocklist the company, and has said that his government would revisit the 2019 episode.

KTR rejected the CM's charge that the previous government had failed to act against Globarena. He cited the inquiry ordered by the then government and the measures subsequently taken by the Intermediate Board. KTR has also served Revanth Reddy a legal notice over allegations linking him to Globarena, denying any ownership, financial, or proprietary relationship with the company and demanding that the CM substantiate his allegations.

Talking to THE WEEK, BRS spokesperson Sravan Kumar Dasoju said that Revanth Reddy had mishandled the Group-I examination controversy in 2024, got protesting youth lathi-charged, and had no right to express solidarity with students in Delhi.

“CM Reddy is using the occasion to attack KCR and BRS. He hasn’t said a single word against the prime minister or home minister,” Sravan Kumar alleged.

While the Congress has attacked the BRS over Globarena, Union Minister of State for Home, Bandi Sanjay Kumar, turned his fire on both parties. He alleged that the public confrontation between the Congress and BRS over Globarena and its subsequent renaming as Coempt EduTeck was a scripted “Bigg Boss reality show” masking collusion between the two parties.

He alleged that the previous BRS government deliberately avoided blocklisting Globarena after the 2019 controversy, while the Congress government had failed to initiate criminal action against those responsible.

Responding to Sanjay’s allegations, Sravan Kumar questioned how Coempt could have secured a valuable CBSE contract if the BJP believed that the company had links with KTR.

“Does that mean the Modi government went ahead with awarding the contract despite its knowledge about the company’s alleged links with KTR?” he questioned.

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