CHENNAI: A plea has been filed in the Madras High Court seeking direction to the Union government to establish additional examination centres in Tamil Nadu for NEEEET-PG 2021. Claiming that out of 255 centres established across the country, only 28 are in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, the petitioner and advocate Veerapillai Ramesh said even these limited centres are chosen by candidates from other states, forcing native students to opt for centres in other States.
Admitting the plea, a division bench of Justice R Subbiah and Justice Sathi Kumar Sukumara Kurup directed the Union government and the National Board of Examination to file their reply by March 8. According to the petitioner, the choice of the city for NEE T-PG will depend on the availability of test centres in any particular city and that the allotment shall be done on a first-come, first-serve basis.
“I have learned from various sources that within few hours of opening of the portal enabling the candidates to apply, the system responds to the effect that all the test centres in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry have been taken and that the said centres do not find a place in the list of centres while applying online,” he said. The notice inviting applications was published on February 23 and on the same day, by 3.00 pm, all the centres in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry were apparently filled, he added. This has put candidates from Tamil Nadu in a very precarious situation, where they have to necessarily opt for centres outside Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, the petitioner said.