SC scraps pre-medical entrance test, orders fresh test in 4 weeks

New Delhi, June 15: In a major verdict, the Supreme Court on Monday scrapped the All India Pre-Medical Entrance Test (AIPMT) for 2015-16 following the leak of its question paper and circulation of the answer keys through electronic devices at different examition centres in 10 states.

The AIPMT was conducted for 15 percent all-India quota seats.

A vacation bench of Justice R.K. Agrawal and Justice Amitava Roy, while cancelling the examition and directing its re-conduct within four weeks, said: “We are aware that the abrogation of the examition would result in some inconvenience to all concerned and that same extra time would be consumed for holding a fresh examition with renewed efforts.”

Holding that the entire conduct of the AIPMT has been rendered “futile by a handful of elements seeking to reap undue fincial gain by subjecting the process to their evil manoeuvres”, the court said: “We have thus no hesitation to order that the All India Pre-Medical and Pre-Dental Test stands cancelled.”

“This, according to us, is the price the stakeholders would have to suffer in order to maintain the impeccable and irrefutable sanctity and credibility of a process of examition, to assess the inte worth and capability of the participating candidates for being assigned inter se merit positions commensurate to their performance based on genuine and sincere endeavours,” said Justice Roy, while pronouncing the judgment.

While directing the re-conduct of the entire test, the court rejected the Central Board of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) plea not to scrap the test as it would affect 6.30 lakh students and also the re-conduct of the examition could not be completed before four months.

Taking note of the plea of “enormity” of the task and the time frame of “four months” flagged by the CBSE, the court said: “We would emphasize that this is an occasion where it (CBSE) ought to gear up in full all its resources in the right spirit, in coordition with all other institutions that may be involved so as to act in tandem and hold the examition afresh at the earliest”.

The court’s order came on a PIL and other petitions seeking the re-conduct of the examition in the wake of the leak of the question paper, contending that it has compromised the integrity of the entrance test.