‘Large-scale rigging’ in law entrance exams at Delhi University, claims PIL in HC

Additionally, DU’s Dean of Students and Dean of Law faculty, Bar Council of India, Bar council of Delhi as well as DCP North District have been added as respondents.

The plea has been filed by 19 candidates who appeared for the entrance examination to LLB and LLM course on October 19 last year and did not qualify the same when the results were declared on December 10.

It is their case that the cut-off declared last year was “inflated” as compared to cut offs of previous years despite the “high level of toughness in comparison to previous years”.

“It was upon careful perusal of the aforesaid cut-off list that revealed that some popular and politically influential candidates have secured top positions in the entrance examinations which raised further suspicion,” the plea alleged.

The plea alleged that the entrance test was a “planned scam between officials and a few scammers who enjoy privilege through political influence within the administration” and includes leaking of question papers, management of exam centres that resulted in “unprecedented rise of cut-offs and entrance of undeserving students to the said University”.

The plea claimed that students from two specific examination centres, Chandigarh and Jammu, “bagged most of the top 20 ranks which is unprecedented”. The plea also alleged that the “exponential growth” of the number of students scoring 300 plus marks in the 2022 entrance examination is “far from expectation”, comparing it to the number of students who scored this figure in 2021 which was 33.

The plea therefore seeks a direction to ensure an independent, credible and impartial investigation into the incidents of misconduct and scam against the identified students (300+ Scoring Candidates) by a Special Investigation Team. It further seeks a direction to the respondents to assess the reason for such inflated cut-offs, requiring them to identify the candidates who were unduly benefited by using unfair means. It also seeks expeditious registration of FIRs against the scammer and preparators without undue delay.

The plea alleges that the Delhi Police had an “unsympathetic attitude” as they refused to file an FIR in the matter and both NTA and DU’s administration remained unresponsive to the candidates representations.