In a press conference held on Thursday, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has assured that the interest of students affected by the paper leak will not be compromised and none of the guilty involved in the exam fiasco will be spared. A high-level committee is being setup to investigate into the matter of the paper leak in NEET-UG and UGC-NET exam, both of which are conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). Over 30 lakh candidates appeared for the two exams.
Answering a question on whether NEET-UG would be cancelled, Mr Pradhan added that the government has to keep the interests of meritorious students as well. "As far as the NEET exams are concerned, we are in constant touch with the Bihar government and the Patna Police will send us a detailed report soon. As per preliminary information, errors are limited to certain regions. The government has to keep the interests of meritorious students in mind as well," he said.
Over the years, the various entrance exams held in the country have been marred with controversies of cheating and irregularities. This year the UGC-NET exam conducted by the NTA was cancelled based on input from federal cybercrime unit run by the Home Ministry. Investigations are meanwhile underway to find the paper leak in the medical entrance exam NEET UG 2024.
Medical entrance exam cancelled in 2015
A similar exam failure took place in 2015 when the undergraduate medical entrance exam previously called All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT) was scrapped in 2015 following reports of paper leak. The AIPMT was then conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).
AIPMT was cancelled after the intervention of the Supreme Court. The exam was conducted on May 3 across 1,050 centres and was cancelled by the court in its June 15 verdict. The court had given CBSE four weeks time to re-conduct the examination and declare the result. It announced the judgement noting that the entire conduct of the AIPMT had become futile by a handful of elements who were trying to reap undue financial gain.
The medical entrance exam was cancelled after investigations suggested that the question paper and the answer keys were circulated through electronic devices across 10 states. The examination was conducted at 1,065 centres in 50 cities throughout the country and abroad. A total of 6,32,625 candidates had registered for the AIPMT in 2015. Of these around 4,22,859 candidates downloaded the admit card.
As per a report in Hindustan Times, nearly 90 answer keys were electronically leaked to candidates in return for Rs 15 -20 lakh. The Rohtak police arrested seven people including two doctors and an MBBS student.
The exam conducting body CBSE had then opposed the re-exam saying that 6.3 lakh students cannot be made to take the exam afresh when only 44 students have been found involved in taking benefits through unfair means.
The top court had responded saying that even a single entry through "illegal" means would "vitiate" the "sanctity" of the test.
The exam was later successfully conducted by the CBSE.
