By Express News Service MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court has ordered the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to grant grace marks to the Tamil medium students who took the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test this year. It has directed the CBSE to publish a fresh list of the qualified candidates within two weeks and has stayed all the current proceedings which are being undertaken based on the present candidate list. A division bench comprising Justices C T Selvam and A M Basheer Ahamed passed the order following a Public Interest Litigation which was filed by T K Rangarajan, MP from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) seeking direction to provide 196 marks as grace marks for the Tamil medium students citing errors in 49 out of the 180 questions in the Tamil medium question paper in NEET exam this year. Stating that the students who have taken NEET-2018 examination in Tamil medium should be suitably compensated to provide them with a level playing field in the exam, the Judges directed CBSE to grant four marks for each of the 49 erroneous questions, that is in all 196 marks, to the candidates who took the exam in Tamil. “Consequently, the Board should revise the list of qualified candidates and publish the same afresh. It shall then be open to the authorities concerned to go about counseling the eligible candidates,” said the Judges, adding that the list of qualified candidates shall be kept in abeyance as would the counseling sessions, pending publishing details of the qualified candidates afresh in keeping with the above order. Earlier, the Judges stated that they could not accept CBSE’s explanation that ‘in case of ambiguity in questions in regional language, their English version is final’ and criticised CBSE asking how can the Board determine the mark of Tamil medium students in NEET based on their proficiency in English language. They also remarked that, “the issue of CBSE publishing key answers etc, calling for challenges there to on payment of cost arriving at a decision upon which a decision is taken on what is the most appropriate answer and that such answer would form a basis of correction and grant of marks has been raised before us. We are left wondering whether the CBSE, a board entrusted with the conduct of examination at the national level can be so uncertain about the answers to questions raised by it”. They said that attaining such level of precision of answer will be very difficult in NEET exam which is attended by students in the age of group 17 to 18. The Judges further expressed that if the Supreme Court permits the using of technical terms which are not capable of easy translation into a regional language, then the student who is to take the NEET exam, be it in any regional language, should be apprised of such terms. Bringing the attention of the authorities to how students who pursue private study in class 12 are being declared ineligible to write the exam by the Board, the Judges said, “We have tens of thousands of children having to support a mother, sibling, ailing parents and elders and sometimes deserving father, by eking out a living by earning that extra rupee which keeps the home fire burning and yet in real and earnest pursues private study simply because they want to be educated”, and added that the Board should enable such deserving students to hope for a better tomorrow by giving them the chance to appear for the examination in future.<doc-sep>The Madras High Court on Tuesday ordered CBSE to award 196 marks to students who took Tamil version of NEET 2018 examination for medical admissions as 49 questions were wrongly translated. The verdict by Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court brings huge relief to National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) aspirants in Tamil Nadu. The High Court has also asked the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to release new rank list in two weeks.CPI-M leader T K Rangarajan had filed a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking award of full marks for 49 'erroneous' questions in the Tamil version of the NEET. On July 6, a bench of justices C T Selvam and A M Basheer Ahamed had came down heavily on the CBSE observing that it was being autocratic in the matter related to errors in the Tamil version of this year's NEET. It said that despite knowing that a PIL on the matter was filed and it was due for hearing, the CBSE had released the results. "Why did they do so? ", the court asked. Referring to the CBSE's submission, the bench said, "How do you decide the right answers for the questions based on majority view? CBSE is accepting even wrong answers under the pretext of majority decision. How is that in Bihar state so many students got through the examination?" it asked. The petitioner had submitted that key words in the Tamil questions were wrongly translated from English and this caused confusion for the students. In the previous hearing, the court had asked the CBSE to file an affidavit stating among others on whether any exercise was undertaken to ascertain which of the English words in the syllabi for science subjects were incapable of being reproduced in an equivalent word in Tamil. The judges had also criticised the CBSE saying that the mistakes in the question paper were not mere ambiguity. (With PTI inputs)<doc-sep>The Madras high court on Tuesday ordered the CBSE to award 196 marks — 4 marks each for 49 erroneous questions — to students who took the Tamil version of this year’s National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for admission in medical and dental colleges in the country. Justices CT Selvam and AM Basheer Ahamed of the Madurai bench also directed the Central Board of Secondary Education to consequently publish a revised list of eligible candidates. The bench, however, said it shall be upon the authorities to go about the counselling process (which is already on in Tamil Nadu) for eligible candidates. CPI(M) leader TK Rangarajan, the petitioner, had sought full marks for the 49 questions, saying several key words in the Tamil paper were wrongly translated from the English language. The paper had 180 questions worth 720 marks (four for each). The judges said the students who took the test in Tamil should be “suitably compensated to provide a level-playing ground”. On the question of CPI(M) leader’s locus standi to move the court, the judges said 49 erroneous questions was huge enough to become a ground for a public interest litigation, and it matters little who raised the issue. Rangarajan said that the problem occurred due to the outsourcing concept used by the CBSE. PMK founder S Ramadoss said the verdict brings huge relief to NEET aspirants in Tamil Nadu, and urged the stakeholders not to appeal against the court order as it’d affect the aspiring students. A senior state official told HT that the order “will have a pan-India impact”. We will wait for the CBSE to respond after which the state will look into the matter.” Academicians and doctors in the state welcomed the verdict, and urged the Centre to increase the number of medical seats.<doc-sep>Students who took NEET in Tamil will be awarded extra marks, the Madras HC has directed the CBSE. Image for representation. The Madras High Court today ordered the Central Board of Secondary Examination (CBSE) to award 196 marks to candidates who wrote the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) in Tamil. The Madurai Bench of the Madras HC directed the central education board to award 196 marks to each NEET candidate took the medical entrance examination in Tamil after a PIL was filed demanding compensatory marks for NEET Tamil candidates. The petition was filed by Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP Rangarajan, stating that that 49 questions in the NEET 2018 question paper were wrongly translated in Tamil. The court has order the CBSE to release the revised rank list within two weeks. The CBSE has suspended the medical counselling sessions until the new rank list is released.<doc-sep>
Madras High Court Madras High Court The Madras High Court today ordered the Central Board of Secondary Examination (CBSE) to award 196 marks — 4 marks each for 49 erroneous questions — to candidates who appeared for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) 2018 in Tamil. Hearing a petition over compensatory marks, the Madurai bench of Madras High Court directed CBSE to revise NEET rank list in two weeks. Justices CT Selvam and AM Basheer Ahamed of the Madurai Bench also directed the CBSE to consequently revise the list of eligible candidates and publish it afresh. The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed by Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP Rangarajan. He complained that 49 questions have errors in the NEET 2018 paper. READ | NEET UG 2019: Exam date, eligibility, syllabus, application, fees, counselling details Earlier, a bench comprising Justices CT Selvam and AM Basheer Ahamed, criticised the CBSE and the government saying that the mistakes in the question paper were not mere ambiguity. The CBSE has suspended the medical counselling sessions until the new rank list is released. The CBSE said that the decision on the most appropriate answer was taken by experts and marks were awarded based on that. On this, the bench wondered whether the board entrusted with the conduct of such a national-level examination could be so uncertain about the answers to the questions raised by it. Such an exercise, giving marks for the most appropriate answer, might be acceptable for civil service examination. But to do it in respect of the NEET examination for students aged 17-18 should not have been thought of. The level of difficulty should not be raised to such a level for the teenagers, the bench said in its order. NEET 2018 results were published in June first week and the counselling process has already started. In Tamil Nadu, about 1.07 lakh candidates took the test across 170 centres in 10 cities