Tucked away in one of the floors in the building, a group of employees is involved in a highly confidential assignment. And has been since June 3 -- re-totaling of marks.

Past a big board with a boldly scribbled ``OUT OF BOUNDS'' sign in red, a grim-faced guard conducts a thorough search on employees that are to enter a narrow door. A mouse can't squeak through, especially, if it's carrying a pen or a piece of paper.

For this is where the CBSE stores all the answer sheets of this years' Board examination. Stacked in bundles, these sheets are neatly marked and serialised on the computer. And in a corner of one of the rooms, a set of employees are preparing slips with the student details all set to go for verification.

The CBSE is busy verifying the marks of the students who have filled in applications for re-counting their marks. There is no re-checking here, only re-totaling. ``Considering that the evaluation process is so fool-proof, the CBSE undertakes only re-totaling. This year, though the last date for the submission of applications for verification is July 31, as many as 8,000 applications have already been registered by June 3. Out of which as many as 4,400 application have been processed and results checked. The rest will be assessed as and when they come in,'' said Pavnesh Kumar, the Controller of Examinations for the Board.

In another room in the building as many as 40 teachers are busy examining the copies of the candidates. Painfully going through each question and carefully tallying the marks on the cover sheet yet another time, these examiners form just the first leg of the checking. The sheets are later re-evaluated by the CBSE officials.

Explains one of the examiners, ``Unlike the impression that most people carry about the Board marking, each paper is thoroughly checked for all discrepancies.'' And each detail is noted down carefully and in order. Once again as during evaluation, fictitious roll numbers are awarded to rule out any partiality. Everything is thoroughly verified. All information, no matter how small, such as the number of supplementary sheets, awards against each question, details of unassessed questions (if any), details of extra-assessed questions (if any), marks before and after scrutiny and duly signed by the examiner are passed on to the CBSE for yet another final assessment. ``Not always does it happen that the marks get increased, there are even chances that a student may have been over-marked,'' said Pavnesh. And he showed two instances, one in which a student's marks increased by a digit and another in which a student had been over-marked by seven marks.

Said Pavnesh Kumar: ``Though we receive applications from the children in all categories, most students who come with a complaint to us are the high achievers. And in most case their grouse is that the student had received 96 per cent instead of the 98 per cent which he rightfully deserved.''