NEW DELHI:The Supreme Court on Monday scrapped the All India Pre-Medical/Pre-Dental Entrance Test (AIPMT) for 2015-26 following leak of its question paper and circulation of answer keys through electronic devices and ordered a fresh test within four weeks, in a verdict that affected about 6.3 lakh students. The test is held for filling 15 per cent seats in medical and dental colleges under the all-India quota.
A vacation Bench of Justice R K Agrawal and Justice Amitava Roy, while cancelling the examination and directing its re-conduct, said, “We are aware that the abrogation of the examination would result in some inconvenience to all concerned and same extra time would be consumed for holding a fresh examination with renewed efforts. But to maintain the impeccable and irrefutable credibility of the examination this is the price the stakeholders would have to suffer.”
“We are not unaware that in holding the present examination as well as in participating in the exercise, all genuinely concerned have put in tireless efforts. All these however have been rendered futile by a handful of elements seeking to reap undue financial gain by subjecting the process to their evil manoeuvres. We have thus no hesitation to order that the All India Pre-Medical and Pre-Dental Test stands cancelled,” the Bench said. While directing the re-conduct of the entire test, the court rejected the Central Board of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) plea not to scrap it since it would affect 6.30 lakh students and the re-test could not be completed before four months.
Taking note of the plea of enormity of the task and the time frame of four months flagged by the CBSE, the court said, “We would emphasise that this is an occasion where it (CBSE) ought to gear up all its resources in the right spirit, in coordination with all other institutions that may be involved so as to act in tandem and hold the examination afresh at the earliest.”
It was a collective challenge that all the players would have to meet, by rising to the occasion and fulfil the task at the earliest, so as to thwart the deplorable design of a mindless few seeking to hijack the process for selfish gain along with the unscrupulous beneficiaries thereof, it said.
While ordering the re-exam, the court noted that on previous occasions “such type of examination had been held anew within a period of one month”.
