Reportedly the Madras High Court on Wednesday ordered the National Testing Agency (NTA) to hand over the thumb impressions of the 4,250 students who were admitted to various MBBS courses this year in Tamilnadu to the CB-CID. Meanwhile the court also ordered for the profiles of all MBBS students admitted in the academic year 2019-20 to be re-verified. Furthermore this direction comes a day after the testing authority gave the profiles of the 19 students from Tamilnadu who had chosen to write NEET in centres outside the state.
Apparently a bench comprising Justice N Kirubakaran and Justice P Velmurugan said that officers who verified the students’ dresses and hair had failed to cross-check their faces and the bench added that in the future, face recognition also be used for students appearing for the exam. Moreover the court also added the CBI as a respondent in the case, since the probe may have to be extended to other states as well.
Furthermore, it ordered the Tamilnadu government and the Centre to tell the court the steps that they will take to ensure that the test is conducted fairly in the future. Perhaps the judges also said that if the seats obtained by the students through impersonation infringed upon the seats reserved for students from the SC/ST categories, then provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act must also be added. Also the CB-CID submitted in court that it has arrested six persons, including four students, in connection with the case so far and that 19 other suspects have also been identified.
