Grace marks given for error in two questions: University

Tribune News Service

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Chandigarh, July 6

Less than a fortnight after two candidates for Punjab Pre-Medical Entrance Test (PMET) claimed discrepancies in 35 queries in their question papers, the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences today agreed the same in only two questions.

As the matter came up for resumed hearing in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the university claimed except for two questions, no discrepancies were found in the question papers. The university also claimed the grant of grace marks for both incorrect questions to all candidates, irrespective of whether they had attempted them.

Its counsel submitted a 30-page detailed report claiming that all questions had been verified and found correct. He, however, added duplication in question numbers 19 and 26 of the physics paper and for that, grace marks had been given to all candidates.

In their petition through advocate Girish Agnihotri, Ritika of Patiala and other petitioners contended that they appeared in the PMET on May 17 but the test was held in an “unfair and arbitrary” manner. As such, it was required to be cancelled before directing the university to conduct the test afresh. In alternative, directions were required to be issued to the respondents to get the test conducted through an independent agency or institution.

The petitioners added the university tried to conduct the examination for admission to the MBBS seats in Punjab in a clandestine manner to hide its incompetency.

No less than 200 objective multiple-choice questions were required to be solved in 180 minutes. The examination was conducted at a single centre where around 15,500 students gathered to take the test.

But candidates said there were “glaring mistakes and patent errors” in the question paper. Several questions did not have correct options. Some questions were allegedly repeated, besides some had more than one correct option. Some other questions allegedly did not make any sense at all as the numerical values given in the question paper were not possible.