NEW DELHI, June 23: Nearly half of the eligible candidates who were scheduled to retake the National Eligibility and Entrance Test – Undergraduate (NEET-UG) on Sunday for a re-test, did not turn up, the National Testing Agency (NTA) said in a statement. After a Supreme Court order, 1,563 students who were given grace marks were eligible to take the retest today, the NTA said.
Of the total, 813 (52 per cent) gave the retest and 750 skipped, shows data released by the NTA this evening. The NTA had opened seven exam centres in Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Meghalaya, and Chandigarh, a Union Territory.
Following is the centre-wise list of candidates for re-test: Chandigarh: 2 eligible, both absent.
Chhattisgarh: 602 eligible, 311 absent, 291 took retest.
Gujarat: 1 eligible, and the student turned up.
Haryana: 494 eligible, 207 absent, 287 took retest.
Meghalaya: 464 eligible, 230 absent, 234 took retest.
The retest was held on a day the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a first information report (FIR) in connection with alleged irregularities in the medical entrance exam NEET-UG held on May 5. The CBI filed the case following a complaint from the Education Ministry amid protests and litigation by students for a probe into paper leak claims.
Officials said the ministry alleged in the complaint, now part of the FIR, that “certain isolated incidents” happened in a few states during the conduct of the examination. Giving top priority to the case, the CBI has formed special teams that are on their way to Godhra and Patna, where cases of question paper leaks have been filed by the police.
The CBI will take over the investigation of the cases filed by the police in Gujarat and Bihar. The role of officials, if any, connected with the conduct of the examination and also into the entire gamut of events, and the larger conspiracy will also be under the scanner, officials said.
Meanwhile, the National Testing Agency (NTA) website and all its other web portals are fully secure, and reports that these have been compromised and hacked are wrong and misleading, officials said on Sunday. The clarification comes amidst controversy over the conduct of the NEET-UG examinations held on May 5. The education ministry on Saturday set up a panel to review the NTA’s functioning, recommend exam reforms and ensure data security.
“NTA website and all its web portals are fully secure. Any information that they have been compromised and hacked is wrong and misleading,” a senior official said.
(Manas Dasgupta)