Chandigarh, July 22
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today asked the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to constitute a high-powered committee of experts to revaluate the 21 controversial questions that were part of the PMET 2005 examination conducted by Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar.
These are the questions whose answers are alleged to be wrong or ambiguous by the petitioner challenging the result of the second examination for PMET 2005.
The Bench of Mr Justice J.S. Khehar and Mr Justice S.N. Aggarwal also directed the Director, CBSE, to ensure that the committee, comprising two experts each for the four subjects of PMET examination, submitted its report on or before July 27.
An official of the rank of Assistant Registrar of the Punjab and Haryana High Court has also been deputed to go to New Delhi with the relevant record submitted by the petitioners as well as respondent university.
However, the Bench expressed satisfaction over the manner in which the examination was re-conducted by Guru Nanak Dev University. It noted that the university not only had the courage to allow students to examine their own answer sheets after the declaration of the result but had allowed them to check the answer-sheets of other students also. “This speaks volumes about the transparency in the entire process,” the Bench observed.
Today, during hearing, counsel for the petitioners again reiterated that answers of 21 questions were either incorrect or ambiguous, university counsel denied the accusation. He stated the university stand that the answers were not only correct but were the most appropriate ones for each of the questions.
A group of 34 selected candidates also moved the High Court, opposing any move to quash the result. They stated that they had already been selected through a thorough process and they could not be made to suffer for follies that were not theirs.
While involving the CBSE in the matter of 21 questions, the Bench noted that since teaching experts of each of the four subjects drawn from Guru Nanak Dev University had found nothing wrong in the questions or the answers, the only course left was to get them examined from independent experts. “The university, we feel, should not be party to any re-valuation process,” the Bench observed.
It may be recalled that on the last hearing, the Bench had restrained Baba Farid University, Faridkot, for holding counselling of PMET-2005 candidates till final disposal of the writs. Counselling of the candidates had been scheduled for July 20-24.
Petitioners Saumil Garg and 36 other candidates are seeking quashing of the result of the re-examination conducted by the university on June 30 as also an inquiry into the conduct of the examination.
The petitioners have stated that answers to as many as 21 questions had incorrect code keys. Hearing will now resume on July 28.
Meanwhile, the Registrar of Guru Nanak Dev University, Mr R.S. Bawa, said the university will challenge today’s decision of the High Court in the Supreme Court. “The CBSE is not a higher body than Guru Nanak Dev University. Its own paper was reported to have leaked sometime back,” Mr Bawa said.
