Med entrance marks scheme questioned in High Court

The entrance exam conducted by the Guru Govind Singh Indraprastha University,and is the only competitive evaluation for admitting candidates to the 125 post-graduate seats in medical colleges associated with reputed hospitals like Ram Manohar Lohia,Safdarjung and ESI.

The IP university’s cut-off policy for admission requires that the number of students,declared qualified for the entrance,must be at least five times the number of seats available in a particular course in the last batch. According to the brochure,a general category candidate is held to be qualified on getting 50 per cent of the total marks and a SC/ST/OBC category examinee requires 40 per cent marks.

The petitioners,through senior advocate R K Virmani,argued that the “five-times candidate” criteria was difficult to meet since the number of applications they got was less — more or less close to the number of seats available.

In the eventuality this criteria is not met,the university formulated a new policy this February that allows for certain relaxation in marking. It is this relaxation that has been challenged in the court on the ground of “arbitrariness and malafide.”

“All questions which are not correctly attempted by any candidate will be deleted for the purpose of evaluation,and marks of all such questions will be given to all candidates,who attempted at least one question,” read clause 6 (a) of the order.

Challenging this clause,the lawyer said: “It could be the first such exam where candidates were being allotted marks for incorrect answers. Moreover,those who attempted these questions incorrectly were awarded marks at the expense of those who did not attempt,fearing negative marking.”

A second clause states,“Questions,which are correctly attempted by minimum number of candidates,will also be deleted for the purpose of evaluation and marks of all such questions will be given to all candidates.”

“The brochure was issued in January but this order was passed in February,without informing the candidates about the change in the marking pattern. The university had to disclose this on June 20 during a hearing before the CIC. We demand a CBI inquiry into the episode. Moreover,the court should summon the OMR sheets of the examinees and adjudge them,” said the lawyer.

Virmani said the issue required immediate intervention of the court since as per a Supreme Court ruling,admission to a medical course could not be extended beyond June 30. Accepting his plea,a vacation bench issued a notice to the university and sought their explanation by Friday.