Kerala High Court rescues 16-year-old dancer’s dreams after 32-second power cut ruined her performance

Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas was hearing a plea of a girl against the education department’s rejection order for a fair evaluation of her performance.

The court said despite the girl continuing to dance, even when the power failure occurred, there could “possibly have been a loss of confidence affecting the performance”, rendering her in an unequal position vis-à-vis the other participants.

Background

• The case arose from a plea of a 16-year-old participant in the Kuchipudi (Girls) event in the Thiruvananthapuram District School Kalolsavam 2025-26. The petitioner was placed in the fifth position.
• The girl pointed out in her plea that while she was performing on the stage, there was a power failure, which affected her performance.
• Aggrieved by the evaluation conducted by the education department, the girl filed an objection plea before the department on January 12.
• The department, however, rejected the plea, pointing out that though there was a power failure for 32 seconds, the same had not affected her performance.
• Following this rejection, the girl filed a plea before the high court and urged that Kuchipudi’s performance on the day of the event was par excellence and she ought to have been awarded first place with A grade.

Findings

• Despite the petitioner continuing to dance, even when the power failure occurred, there could possibly have been a loss of confidence affecting the performance, rendering her in an unequal position vis-à-vis the other participants.
• Taking note of the admitted fact that there was a power failure while the petitioner was performing, and she was not given a second chance, the petitioner ought to be permitted to participate in the State School Kalolsavam.
• Even though the petitioner is in the fifth position since there is a possibility that her performance could have been affected by a defect not attributable to the petitioner, she ought to be granted permission.
• Accordingly, the education department’s order is quashed, and the petitioner is permitted to participate in Kuchipudi (Girls) HSS General category in the State School Kalolsavam scheduled to commence from January 14.

Arguments

• Appearing for the petitioner, Advocates Rajesh Kannan and Praveen N Pillai contended that the panel judges erroneously placed her in the wrong position due to a faulty evaluation, which is required to be set aside, and she should be placed in the first place.
• Power failure for 32 seconds would have affected the morale, confidence, and even the performance of the student, which was the reason why she was pushed down to the fifth position.
• No fair evaluation of the event since she was not granted a second chance to perform after the power came back on.
• The education department said the authority considered her contentions and rejected the challenge, and came to such a conclusion after verifying the score sheets, the stage manager’s report, the video, and the evaluation sheet.
• The appellate authority also noted that the performance on the day of the event of the petitioner was not up to the mark, as that of the first-place holder.
• The state said that though the sound system was properly working during the entire competition except when the petitioner performed, and technical issue arose not due to any wilful negligence, but due to certain unforeseen events.

What is Kerala School Kolasavam

The Thiruvananthapuram District School Kalolsavam 2025-26, a week-long annual competition organised by the state government, commenced January 14. It’s the biggest such event in the state’s cultural calendar, with thousands of contestants competing across a hundred-odd events. Until a few years ago, at stake was an ‘A’ grade that fetched the winning student a grace mark of 30 in the annual examinations, a key factor that feeds the frenzy at the festival. Those with a ‘B’ grade got 24 marks, and a ‘C’ fetched 18 marks.