NEET-UG exam: A year after ‘irregularity’ attempt, Godhra turns fortress for test on May 4

Panchmahal District Collector Ashish Kumar, who is heading the committee formed to smoothly implement the list of SOPs issued by NTA for the NEET-UG, is “confident” that “no untoward incident” will take place this year in Godhra. Speaking to The Indian Express, Kumar said, “We have constituted a district-level committee comprising the Principal of Kendriya Vidyalaya as the City Coordinator, District Education Officer (DEO) Kirit Patel, Superintendent of Police Himanshu Solanki, and the Principal of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya to look into the detailed SOPs of the NTA and arrangements to conduct the NEET-UG exam on May 4.”

Following the alleged attempted irregularity last year at the private institute, which had been a NEET-UG centre for at least four years, the NTA has now chosen three government institutions and one government-aided private school as centres to conduct this year’s exam, for which 2,160 candidates will appear.

Kumar said, “The NTA has designated four NEET-UG centres in Godhra. Three are government institutions — Government Engineering College, Government Polytechnic College, and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya — while the fourth is St Arnold School, a government aided school in Godhra town. Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya is about 10 km away from the city. At each of these centres, government teachers will be appointed as invigilators. The Principals of these institutions will be the Supervisors of the centre and will also have Deputy Supervisors. The DEO will issue an order for government teachers to be appointed as invigilators. Each examination room at the centres will have two invigilators.”

Considering the fact that the CBI case related to the “irregularity” during 2024 NEET is that the accused had allegedly planned to fill the blanks on OMR sheets of candidates, who had opted for the same, before the answer sheets were sealed for submission, the NTA has issued a new protocol to ensure that the answer sheets are sealed in the classroom in presence of the candidates and not carried unsecured.

Kumar said, “To counter the modus operandi, we have decided that when the examination is over, the answer sheets will be sealed in the class room in the presence of students. Last time, the sealing process was carried out in another room, but it will be done in the classroom under CCTV surveillance this year. We are going by the NTA SOP… Both the original OMR sheets and the carbon copy sheets will be separately sealed in respective bags before being taken out of the classroom… Similarly, the papers will be handed out to students after opening the seal of the covers inside the classroom only.”

Kumar added that the question papers will also be transported under police protection and the process will be video-recorded. Frisking of all students is also mandatory, along with the use of biometric technology, for the first time, to verify their identity. “There will be Aadhaar-based biometrics. Holograms will be given to students, without which they will not be able to gain entry into the examination centers.” Kumar added that Chief Secretary Joshi will also review the arrangements across the state via video conferencing to ensure strict compliance.

An official from the district education department said that as against the usual norm of having one or two centres in a town, the NTA has decided to divide the candidates across smaller centers to ensure that the control is not concentrated at one location. The official told this newspaper, “This is the first instance, in several years, when Godhra will have four smaller centres instead of one or two large centres… The distribution of candidates will prevent chances of malpractice that are more probable in a single centre. The papers are also expected to arrive only a night before and will be stored away in safe vaults of a nationalised bank.”

Panchmahal SP Solanki told this newspaper, “Like in the case of GPSC exams, police personnel will be present in vehicles transporting papers to the exam centres. Since the district police is only required to provide security at the venue of exam centres, we do not need any reinforcements. Panchmahal district police officers will be deployed as per requirement.”

In 2024, the CBI had informed the court that the management of the Jay Jalaram Trust had “allegedly conspired to manipulate and intentionally show” that two of their centres were located in Godhra to be able to “select and control both exam centres”.

The CBI filed a chargesheet in the case where attempts of alleged irregularities were “foiled” during a raid by the Education Department’s inspection squad at Jay Jalaram School in Godhra’s Parvadi village. The raid was based on inputs received by the Panchmahal Collector. Prime accused Tushar Bhatt, who was the NEET-UG centre superintendent in the district; school principal Purshottam Sharma, who was the NTA Coordinator for Godhra; Education Consultant Vibor Anand; Arif Vohra, a resident of Godhra, as well as Parshuram Roy, the owner of Roy Overseas Services in Vadodara — from where the Panchmahal district police had recovered cheques amounting to Rs 2.3 crore.

Based on a complaint filed by DEO Patel, an FIR was registered on May 8.

The CBI also filed a supplementary chargesheet against Dixit Patel, the Chairman of the Jay Jalaram Trust, who was arrested on June 29, 2024. In February this year, the Gujarat High Court dismissed a petition filed by Dixit, seeking regular bail, after the CBI chargesheet.