Apex court scraps 2015 all-India pre-medical test

The Supreme Court on Monday cancelled the All India Pre-Medical /Pre-Dental Test 2015 held on May 3, stating that the examination stood denuded of its sanctity due to irregularities.

A bench of Justices R K Agrawal and Amitava Roy directed the CBSE to hold fresh examination within four weeks,  while stating that 44 beneficiaries of “unprincipled manoeuvres” have been identified so far.

“At present, the examination stands denuded of its sanctity as it is not possible to be cleansed of all the participating beneficiary candidates with certainty. We are thus, on an overall assessment of the materials on record, left unpersuaded to sustain the examination,” Justice Roy wrote in the 41-page verdict. “If such an examination is saved, merit would be a casualty, generating a sense of frustration in genuine students with aversion to the concept of examination,” the bench added.

The court said that there would also be a lurking possibility of unidentified beneficiary candidates stealing a march over genuine candidates on the basis of the advantages availed by them through the underhand dealings.  The matter involved the future generations of doctors of the country, who would be in charge of public health, their inherent merit to qualify for taking the course can by no means be compromised, the bench said.

Allowing a batch of PILs by some aspirants, along with others seeking cancellation of the exam, the court noted that out of 123 solutions, 102 were found correct on comparison with the answer key provided by the CBSE.  The Haryana Police unravelled “startling and alarming” facts about the widespread network that operated across various states, including Haryana, Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, UP, Maharashtra and Odisha, the apex court noted.

The CBSE had pleaded that the apex court’s earlier direction to start the academic session from August 1 would be disturbed if a fresh examination was held across 1,050 centres. It said the exercise would take four months time and would affect over 6 lakh students.