New Delhi, June 3 (IANS) The Supreme Court, observing the credibility of the All India Pre-Medical Entrance Test (AIPMT) was in question, on Wednesday asked the CBSE not to declare the results till June 9 as Haryana Police was probing the leak of the May 3 examination paper.
A vacation bench of Justice Prafulla C. Pant and Justice Amitava Roy said it would decide on the plea seeking the re-conduct the exam after receiving the report from Haryana Police.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) was to declare the results on June 5.
Giving police a week’s time to complete investigation so that it could know the number of people who benefited from the question paper leak, the court said that till June 9 all “further steps in the examination process shall be stayed”.
Justice Pant said that the “credibility of the AIPMET is going down” and Justice Roy observed that the “solemnity and sanctity of the ecxam has to be maintained”.
What has come to light in the course of investigation, police has told the court that even last year, these technological devices were used for cheating in AIPMT examination and two students who were involved in it succeeded and got admitted to medical colleges.
Asking Haryana Police officers present in the court as to how much time it needed to complete the investigation, the court said: “If you are able to conclude the investigation, we can’t give you more than one week… if you are able to identify the beneficiaries, then we will be able to pass some order.”
“We leave it you to nab as many candidates who are the beneficiaries of the question paper leak operation so that enables us to take a balanced decision lest we commit a mistake with an open eye,” the court said asking police to hurry up with its investigations.
Addressing the plea for the re-conduct of the exam by a batch of petitioners, the court said that it could not be oblivious of its ramifications. “Before we do that we have to be satisfied that we have no other option. We should be satisfied about the ramifications.”
“We have to be doubly sure, so that we are not criticized,” the court said.
Responding to the queries from the court, police told the court that it is like a Pandora box. “We have arrested a boy who used the technique last year, succeeded, was ranked as number one in Kanpur zone and got admitted to a medical college. Similarly another boy got admitted in a minority medical college last year and was now evading arrest.”
Apprising the court about the magnitude of the operation, police said that it would “certainly nab the kingpin Roop Singh Dangi but even he would not be knowing the extent of operation”.
This man seems to be “seasoned operator” and this is his “third expedition”, said Justice Roy, adding: “He was well-known in the past and is well-known in the present. How is it that he has not been arrested?”
The court is hearing of a PIL by Tanvi Sarwal along with another petition by Jahnvi Shanker seeking the re-conduct of the AIPMT in the wake of the leakage of the question paper and subsequent answer key being circulated through electronic devices.