Madras High Court stays publication of NEET-UG result citing Supreme Court ruling violation

The petitioners alleged that uniform question papers were not given and there was a vast difference between the English and Tamil question papers.
Madras High Court. (File photo)
Madras High Court. (File photo)

MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday granted stay of publication of the results of National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for undergraduate medical courses which was conducted recently.

Justice M V Muralidharan orally observed that “It seemed that the question booklets issued were not same in the different languages. As per the SC ruling, there should be uniformity in the questions in the national-level entrance tests.”

In two petitions, S Jonila of Madurai, represented by her father, and nine others, said with the SC nod, Medical Council of India (MCI) conducted the NEET-UG exam in nine Indian languages, including Hindi and Tamil along with English across the country on May 7.

The MCI  President and Central Board of Secondary Education Secretary/Chairman ought to have conducted the exam throughout the country on same and uniform question. In other words, the question papers should have contained same questions which were exactly translated in the regional languages.

But in fact, NEET-UG exam had different questions in different States. For instance, the questions differed in English language question papers from Tamil. The questions asked in the latter were comparatively easier. 

Some English medium students, expecting the same in advance, opted to write in Tamil. The MCI did not announce about the model (of different questions) before the exam. It has brought uneven playing field for the aspirants who write the exam in different languages. This will affect the right of equal opportunities in education, said the petitioners.

‘One India, One question paper’ in NEET is a must.  Otherwise the scaling of the intelligence and aptitude will differ. So the court should cancel the exam and direct the authorities to conduct re-exam with uniform questions, they prayed. The petitioners’ counsel said the CBSE will publish the results on June 8, so the court should take appropriate action to stop it. Justice Muralidharan granted stay on the results until further orders and also directed MCI President, CBSE  Secretary and the State health secretary to file a counter on June 7.

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