The Supreme Court order cancelling the May 3rd All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT) following allegations of leakage of question paper, is set to affect lakhs of medical aspirants.
A bench of Justice RK Agarwal and Justice Amitava Roy, also ordered that fresh tests must be held within four weeks. They added that all institutes involved in the AIPMT exam process must co-operate with the CBSE to conduct the retest.
The court was hearing a batch of petitions filed by candidates who wrote the exam, seeking its cancellation. Talking on the possibility of conducting the re-test within four weeks, the CBSE Public Relations Officer (PRO) Rama Sharma said, that the board is discussing and deliberating over the matter and will come out with an official reaction soon.
However, sources in the CBSE said it would be very difficult to conduct the exam in four weeks time.
Notably, the CBSE conducts AIPMT for admission to MBBS courses in medical colleges across India.
As a result of the SC’s cancellation of AIPMT, over 6.3 lakh medical aspirants will have to take a fresh test to get admission in colleges.
The court scrapped the paper after it came to light that many students across the country managed to take electronic devices with them inside the exam hall and answers were transmitted to them on the device from outside.
The court said that CBSE has been outwitted by tech-savvy students who manipulated the exam process. The re-examination was ordered after the police failed to track out all the erring students. The court said that the entire exam process stood vitiated due to the cheating, leaving it with no option but to scrap the exam.
It is said that this would be huge injustice to genuine students, who burnt midnight oil to crack the examination but failed to get through the exam due to manipulation and some other undeserving students managed to get admission.