NEET 2017: CBSE defends different question papers in vernacular language, Gujarat HC not impressed

Ahmedabad: The CBSE on Wednesday told the Gujarat High Court that it framed different set of question papers for this year’s NEET for English and Gujarati language students fearing that regional language papers may get leaked.

The court expressed its dissatisfaction over the CBSE’s reply saying that the argument was not valid as leaking is possible even in English language question papers.

The CBSE said that it is preparing to challenge in the Supreme Court the order of the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court granting interim stay on publication of results of National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) across the country which will apply to Gujarat as well.

Justifying its stand on framing different sets of question papers for English and other languages, the CBSE in an affidavit filed before the division bench of Chief Justice R Subhash Reddy and Justice VM Pancholi said that it was done to make it easier for it to conduct the test again in case there is leak of regional language question papers.

It stated in the affidavit that almost 90 percent students appeared for the test in English, and only 8-10 percent candidates took the test in other regional languages. The CBSE stated that chances of question paper leak is higher for regional language papers.

In case there is a leak in vernacular language papers, it will be easy for them to conduct examinations again as only 8-10 percent candidates will be affected while a majority of students who appeared for English medium test will remain unaffected.

The court expressed its dissatisfaction on CBSE reply saying that the argument was not valid as leakage is possible in even English language question papers.

An official of the CBSE present in the court stated that the interim stay put on publication of results of NEET which was conducted on 7 May across the country will also apply to Gujarat till 12 June when the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court next hears the case.

He also said that the results will not be published until the matter is again heard on 12 June , but added that the CBSE is in the process of challenging the interim stay imposed by the Madras High Court on publication of results. The Gujarat High Court will next hear the case on 13 June.

Candidates who had appeared for the test in Gujarati medium had moved the high court seeking the court’s direction to the CBSE to scrap the test held on 7 May and hold it afresh with same set of question papers for English and Gujarati languages.

They said that while a common merit list will be prepared by CBSE, questions asked to them were nearly totally different from questions asked to English medium students, with Gujarati medium questions being of much higher level of difficulty.