CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court on Thursday ordered a CBI inquiry to ascertain the genuineness of claims made by a candidate who had appeared the joint entrance examination (JEE)-2023 regarding marks scored by him in contrast to National Testing Agency (NTA) records.
On the basis of scorecard downloaded from the website of Ministry of Education, Anshuman Kanungo of Kendrapara district’s Marshaghai area had filed a petition seeking direction to correct his NTA score from 33.1372067 to 98.8810861 and serial number in the common rank list from 6,28,193 to 11,193. But the NTA disputed the claim of the petitioner in the court.
However, observing the materials submitted by the petitioner constitute a prima facie case, the division bench of Justice BR Sarangi and Justice MS Raman directed the CBI to submit the inquiry report as early as possible, preferably within four months. “On receipt of the inquiry report from CBI, the registry is directed to place the same for consideration,” the bench said while directing the registry to forthwith communicate a copy of the judgment, along with a copy of the brief, to the director of CBI, New Delhi for immediate compliance.
Justifying the necessity of a CBI probe, the bench said, since the documents which have been annexed to the writ petition have been seriously disputed and not accepted by NTA, the matter requires investigation by an independent and impartial agency. The petitioner had alleged serious irregularities in the process of evaluation of his answer sheet and tampering by the examination conducting body.
On it, the bench observed, “If the documents which are said to have been downloaded from the website of ministry of education are genuine, then he should get admission into his choicest institution of the country, like IIT or NIT. But, if the documents are found to be not genuine, then it is to be found out how the same has been obtained by the petitioner, so that such mistake cannot be done by the authorities concerned in future.”
“Therefore, in the interest of justice, equity and fair play, the matter is handed over to an independent agency, ie, CBI to cause an enquiry and find out the correctness of the documents filed by the petitioner vis-a-vis the stand taken by the NTA relying upon their documents to arrive at a rational conclusion in the matter,” the bench stated.