The Madras High Court Bench here on Monday ordered the production of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) question papers in all 10 languages on June 12, to take a further decision on the declaration of the results of the test held on May 7 for admission to undergraduate medical courses.
Justice S.S. Sundar, holding the portfolio for hearing cases relating to education till the end of this month, passed the order when a writ petition filed by A. Jeroba Cladwin, a student from Pudukottai district, questioning the methodology adopted by the Central Board of School Education (CBSE) in preparing different question papers in different languages, came up for admission.
Acceding to the request of the petitioner’s counsel to post his case to June 12 — the date on which two similar cases filed last month have been posted for further hearing, the judge passed an interim order directing him to produce the question papers prepared in English, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, Odia and Assamese.
“This is a very important and serious issue. I want to see the question papers prepared in different languages and issued in other States before taking a decision,” the judge said, and directed Additional Advocate General B. Pugalendhi to ascertain the stand of the State government on the issue by the next date of hearing.
Explanation sought
On May 24, Justice M.V. Muralidaran passed an interim order restraining the CBSE from declaring the NEET results till June 12.
That order was passed on a joint writ petition filed by a group of nine students from Madurai and one from Tiruchi, seeking a direction to the Central government to cancel the test conducted on May 7.
After perusing the question papers prepared in English and Tamil, the judge was convinced that prima facie, different questions had been asked in the question papers in the two different languages.
Hence, he directed the CBSE to explain by June 12 the reason for not translating a common question paper in all languages, and stayed the declaration of results till then.
Discrimination concerns
Concurring with the writ petitioners that the CBSE should not have created different sets of question papers for the test in different languages, the judge granted interim stay on the ground that the course adopted by the CBSE could lead to discrimination in selection, though the objective of NEET was to hold a uniform entrance examination across the nation.
“From the question papers produced in the typed set of papers, this court could see that the questions which were asked in Tamil and English are not one and the same. Thus, it is apparent that the level playing field for the candidates is not equal and prima facie it goes without saying that there is discrimination,” the judge observed in his interim order.
In an affidavit filed on behalf of the nine students — S. Jonila, P. Surya, P. Siddarth, K. Ajay Sharan, S. Nitin Prakash Sivasubramanian, Gautham Sankar, J. Aditya, D. Richard Rishaban Dass and M. Naveen Kumar of Madurai — it was stated that all of them had taken the NEET this month in English on the basis of uniform syllabus. But they were shocked to learn subsequently that the question paper for the test was not uniform across the country.
Claiming that the CBSE had not disclosed in advance that different question papers had been prepared in different languages, and alleging that the question paper in Tamil was much easier than the one in English, the students said, “One India, one question paper is a must for NEET. Otherwise, assessment of intelligence and aptitude will differ. Further, an uneven playing field would infringe on the right to equal opportunity in education.”
The petitioners also claimed that students in Maharashtra, Karnataka and West Bengal were also agitated over different question papers having been prepared in different languages.
