After the National Testing Agency (NTA) Tuesday cancelled the NEET-UG exam for the first time, its Director General Abhishek Singh said the process was found to have been “vitiated” and they cannot “continue to allow miscreants” to operate “even in an isolated way, even in one sector, one subject”.
Singh told The Indian Express: “There was an allegation and there was found to be something which would have vitiated the process…otherwise why would we take such a big decision. This time around, we declared that there would be zero tolerance towards any malpractice. So, anything that vitiates the process…we can’t encourage the scamsters or people trying to do this again and again.”
Read | 120 of 410 questions from NEET UG appeared in ‘guess paper’, probe begins in Rajasthan
“We have to call their bluff, even if it is a tough decision. It is not easy for NTA, students, or parents. But if we continue to allow these miscreants to do…even in an isolated way, even in one sector, one subject, anything… It’s not acceptable. Our philosophy was zero tolerance, and we’re sticking to that,” Singh said.
NTA had received information about alleged malpractices on May 7, and the matter was then flagged to law enforcement agencies. The Rajasthan Special Operations Group said it found a ‘guess paper’ with 410 questions, of which 120 appeared in the exam, and that it was investigating the matter.
Talking about the stage at which NEET may have been compromised, Singh said: “We’re not investigators. We’re an exam-conducting body. CBI is the body which will do that. It has been given that task to inquire into it, and whosoever it is will be punished.”
Asked about where things may have gone wrong, he said: “All that is subject to inquiry. The examination was conducted smoothly. There was no issue on May 3. No issues were reported before the exam or immediately after. We started evaluating the OMR sheets, and everything had returned. There were no issues with transportation or the conduct of the examination”.
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“Everything went smoothly. But we did get a tip-off…on May 7 we got a mail that something was circulating before the examination. We took it with a pinch of salt, but we still went ahead and verified it.”
“When we found that part of the complaint was true, we had to take this call of cancelling the examination, and doing a re-exam at a huge cost, but in the interest of the larger majority of students, and to tell the criminals and scamsters that we will not accept this,” he added.
NTA has announced that the re-test will be conducted without taking any exam fees from candidates.
“Whatever it takes… The government is committed towards conducting an exam which is scam-free, which doesn’t allow any malpractice, and we will have to ensure this,” Singh said.
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Asked about the need for additional security measures for the re-test, he said that complete guidelines will be issued.
The Centre constituted a seven-member committee headed by former Isro chief K Radhakrishnan to recommend measures to ensure the smooth conduct of public exams in the wake of the 2024 NEET-UG paper leak.
The committee had recommended computer-based testing with exams across multiple shifts as the preferred mode of examination.
Asked about whether the switch to computer-based testing for NEET is feasible, Singh said: “NTA is an exam conducting body; we conduct exams as per the requirements of the departments concerned, which want us to conduct the exam. NEET is conducted for medical entrance… for the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the National Medical Commission. So, it is their call, not ours. Our role is to conduct the examinations. This (computer-based testing) is not for the NTA to speculate. This is a call for the concerned Ministry to take.”