HC restrains CBSE from declaring NEET results

Interim injunction based on different question papers set for test held in 10 languages

Agonising wait: The court held that the CBSE may have erred in setting different sets of question papers. File photo

The Madras High Court Bench here on Wednesday restrained CBSE from declaring till June 12 the results of NEET conducted on May 7 for admission to undergraduate medical courses in government as well as private colleges in the country.

Justice M.V. Muralidaran granted the interim injunction on the ground that different question papers set for the NEET held in 10 different languages could lead to discrimination in selection. He said such a course taken by CBSE goes against the objective of holding a uniform entrance examination across the nation for admission to MBBS and BDS courses.

Concurring with the writ petitioners, a group of nine students from Madurai and one from Tiruchi, that CBSE should not have set different set of question papers for the test held in different languages, the judge directed the Board to file its counter affidavit by June 12 explaining the reasons for not having translated a common question paper.

“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.

Insofar as the petitioners’ claim that the question paper in Tamil was easy compared to the English question paper, the judge said that issue could not be decided at this stage.