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Time of India
11-08-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Education ministry presses NTA over slow exam reforms after NEET-UG leak, CUET delays
Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads New Delhi: As the National Testing Authority (NTA) continues to lurch from one controversy to another even after the NEET-UG 2024 leak case, most recently from the issue of improper stapling of NEET-UG question papers landing it in court for confusing students to electricity failures at testing centres and late scheduling of the CUET exam , the education ministry has finally begun asking questions of the authority, ET has has gathered that the education ministry recently asked the NTA about the status and progress on reforms suggested by the high-level committee helmed by former ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan . The communication has gone out in view of poor progress made by NTA so far on several fronts, it is reform agenda status has been sought nearly eight months after the education ministry's committee report on exam reforms and the NTA functioning was made public. At the core of it is tardy progress on exam reforms, imperative for a NEET-UG 2026 revamp besides a more efficient and predictable conduct of all exams, such as the UGC-NET and CUET which have also become taxing for committee in 2024 had made a series of recommendations to overhaul NTA in the aftermath of the NEET-UG leak case, ranging from structural reforms to re-working its test-related of the key recommendations that got moving at the behest of the Dharmendra Pradhan-led ministry was soon after the panel report was published, with the Union minister announcing that the NTA would only focus on and conduct higher education entrance exams and not service-related exams. On various other reform moves, however, it is still the ministry which has been nudging NTA and urging changes be made, ET has was felt that greater accountability and security apparatus can be ensured at government-run institutes functioning as test centres, compared to private schools. Internal government assessments of the NEET-UG 2024 fiasco also red flagged faulty allocation of test centres in several states. State governments and district administrations at many places also pointed out how the allocation of test centres by the NTA was puzzling in several cases as even state exams were never held at many of these.
The Hindu
06-06-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Madras High Court refuses to order re-conduct of NEET-UG 2025 for candidates affected by power outage
The Madras High Court on Friday (June 6, 2025) dismissed a batch of writ petitions seeking a re-conduct of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2025 for candidates who had experienced power outages at the centres where they appeared for the exam. Justice C. Kumarappan said, when the National Testing Authority (NTA), after field verification, had arrived at a reasonable conclusion that the power outage had not impacted the candidates' performance, such a conclusion must be accepted by the court unless there was any malafide intention. 'In the instant case, I do not find any malafides on the part of the respondent. Further, all over India, there were about 22 lakh students who had participated in NEET-UG 2025 examination. In such view of the matter, if any re-examination is ordered, it would seriously affect level playing field of two million candidates,' he observed. A group of candidates who had appeared for NEET-UG 2025 at the centres in Avadi, Kunrathur, and K.K. Nagar in Chennai had approached the court, contending that the power outage had seriously impacted their performance and therefore, a re-examination must be conducted for them and other affected candidates. However, Additional Solicitor General AR.L. Sundaresan told the court that the NTA had conducted a scientific assessment and did not find any impact on the performance of the students because of the power outage. He told the court that the examination was conducted in broad daylight. Stating that the candidates, who had approached the court, would not have been able to shade the OMR sheets properly had there been any impact, he said, the number of questions answered by the students was much higher than the district average. Though the High Court, during the summer vacation last month, passed an interim order restraining the NTA from releasing the NEET-UG 2025 results until the completion of an inquiry into the candidates' complaints regarding the power outage, the interim order stands vacated in view of the dismissal of the main writ petitions.
The Hindu
05-06-2025
- General
- The Hindu
Delhi refuses relief to student late by 6 minutes for CUET exam
The Delhi High Court has refused grant relief to a student who missed the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) by six minutes outlining the 'sanctity and discipline' of examinations. The 18-year-old candidate claimed on May 13 she reached the exam center at around 8.36 am - six minutes beyond the scheduled time of the test – due to which she was denied entry. The court observed that the information bulletin of the National Testing Authority and the admit card gave very specific instructions on reaching the centre at around 7 am, two hours prior to the commencement of the examination, as gates would shut at around 8.30 am. It said leniency in the conduct of such a large-scale examination would lead to chaos and 'discipline of the examination ought to be maintained'. 'The CUET is an important entrance examination and the discipline in arriving at the examination hall in time, taking the seat in time and being at the center before the gate closing time, are all part of the discipline and ethos of the examination ecosystem which ought not to be relaxed, inasmuch as, the same may lead to huge inequities between similarly placed students,' the court held on May 31. The court dismissing her appeal said, 'One might feel that it was only a matter of six minutes, but the authorities could not be blamed for enforcing the rule of gate closing timings strictly and discrimination was not a valid ground to interfere.' 'The CUET UG examination is an exam where more than 13.54 lacs students from across the country appear. If exceptions are made, and discipline is not followed in such an exam, the timely conduct of the exam, the timely announcement of results and timely admission to colleges and Universities is all likely to be jeopardised and there would be a cascading effect,' the court said.
Time of India
05-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Late by 6 min for CUET, no excuse for relief: Delhi HC to student
New Delhi: refused relief to a student who missed the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) by six minutes, citing the sanctity and discipline of examinations. The 18-year-old candidate had moved the court claiming that on May 13 she reached the exam centre at around 8.36 am – six minutes beyond the scheduled time of the test –but was denied entry. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now A bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Rajneesh Kumar Gupta was hearing her plea against a single judge's order declining to intervene in the matter. The division bench dismissed her appeal on May 31, observing, "One might feel that it was only a matter of six minutes, but the authorities could not be blamed for enforcing the rule of gate closing timings strictly, and discrimination was not a valid ground to interfere." The bench observed that the information bulletin of the National Testing Authority (NTA) and the admit card gave very specific instructions on reaching the centre around 7 am, two hours prior to the commencement of the examination, as gates would be shut around 8.30 am. The bench said leniency in the conduct of such a large-scale examination would lead to chaos, and the discipline of the examination ought to be maintained. "The CUET is an important entrance examination, and the discipline in arriving at the exam hall in time, taking the seat in time, and being at the centre before the gate closing time are all part of the discipline and ethos of the examination ecosystem, which ought not to be relaxed, in as much as the same may lead to huge inequities between similarly placed students," the court said. However, the bench, being extremely conscious of the negative impact on the student's career, said it could not lose sight of the discipline required to be maintained in such examinations. The bench said, "The CUET UG exam is an exam where more than 13.5 lakh students from across the country appear. If discipline is not followed in such an exam, the timely announcement of results, timely admission to colleges and universities are all likely to be jeopardised, and there would be a cascading effect. "
Hindustan Times
05-06-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Late by 6 minutes for test, student's plea fails to convince Delhi HC
New Delhi, The Delhi High Court has refused relief to a student who missed the Common University Entrance Test by six minutes outlining the "sanctity and discipline" of examinations. The 18-year-old candidate claimed on May 13 she reached the exam center at around 8.36 am six minutes beyond the scheduled time of the test but was denied entry. A bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Rajneesh Kumar Gupta was hearing her plea against a single judge's order declining to intervene in the matter. The bench observed that the information bulletin of the National Testing Authority and the admit card gave very specific instructions on reaching the centre at around 7 am, two hours prior to the commencement of the examination, as gates would shut at around 8.30 am. The bench said leniency in the conduct of such a large-scale examination would lead to chaos and "discipline of the examination ought to be maintained". "The CUET is an important entrance examination and the discipline in arriving at the examination hall in time, taking the seat in time and being at the center before the gate closing time, are all part of the discipline and ethos of the examination ecosystem which ought not to be relaxed, inasmuch as, the same may lead to huge inequities between similarly placed students," the court held on May 31. The bench dismissed her appeal and said, "One might feel that it was only a matter of six minutes, but the authorities could not be blamed for enforcing the rule of gate closing timings strictly and discrimination was not a valid ground to interfere." Being "extremely conscious" of the negative impact on the student's career, the court said it could not lose sight of the discipline required to be maintained in such examinations. "The CUET UG examination is an exam where more than 13.54 lacs students from across the country appear. If exceptions are made, and discipline is not followed in such an exam, the timely conduct of the exam, the timely announcement of results and timely admission to colleges and Universities is all likely to be jeopardised and there would be a cascading effect. In such matters, the interference by the Court should be the least ," it stated.
