Congress Alleges MH-CET Scam, Seeks Probe into ‘100 Percentile’ Scores
Highlighting alleged irregularities in the MH-CET results, Mr. Sawant claimed that 22 students who had barely secured passing marks in Class 10 and Class 12 board examinations managed to obtain 100 percentile scores in the entrance test, despite the CET syllabus being based on Classes 11 and 12.
Mumbai: The Maharashtra Congress on Tuesday expressed apprehension that the MH-CET engineering entrance examination papers may have been leaked, drawing parallels with the NEET-UG controversy. Citing instances of students scoring below 40 per cent in board examinations but securing 100 percentile in MH-CET, Congress leader and All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary Sachin Sawant alleged that examination scams were occurring in states ruled by the BJP.
Mr. Sawant alleged a major scam in the MH-CET examination, claiming there were glaring discrepancies between students’ board examination marks and their CET percentiles. He demanded a high-level probe into the matter and strict action against those found guilty.
Referring to the ongoing controversy surrounding NEET paper leaks, Mr. Sawant said incidents of alleged examination fraud had increased anxiety among students and parents. “If the younger generation is being cheated at an important stage of their lives, then this is also a betrayal of the country. While investigations into the NEET paper leak are ongoing, nothing comes out of such inquiries,” he said.
Highlighting alleged irregularities in the MH-CET results, Mr. Sawant claimed that 22 students who had barely secured passing marks in Class 10 and Class 12 board examinations managed to obtain 100 percentile scores in the entrance test, despite the CET syllabus being based on Classes 11 and 12.
Mr. Sawant cited the example of a student who scored 37 per cent in Class 10 but secured 99.971 percentile in MH-CET. According to him, students who had scored 51, 45, 39 and 35 per cent in Class 12 examinations also secured 100 percentile in the CET. “The students ranked 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 15, 16, 17 and 18, who got 100 percentile in MHT-CET Mathematics, had an average HSC Mathematics score of only 64.3%,” he alleged.
The Congress leader further claimed that one topper secured 100 percentile in CET Mathematics despite having an overall HSC PCM score of just 39 per cent. Out of the top 20 rank-holders, 10 students scored 100 percentile in CET Mathematics even though their HSC Mathematics marks ranged from 35 to 97 per cent, he said. Another student, who allegedly scored only 35 per cent in HSC Mathematics, also secured 100 percentile in CET Mathematics.
Mr. Sawant also pointed to the case of a student ranked 66th, who had scored 22 marks in Class 10 Mathematics and 33 marks in Class 12 Mathematics, but still secured 99.971 percentile in CET despite an overall HSC PCM score of 47.67 per cent.
“Such examples make it more clear that there is a huge discrepancy between both the CET and HSC evaluation methods,” he said, demanding that Maharashtra Higher and Technical Education Minister Chandrakant Patil explain “how this miracle happened”.
Targeting the BJP, Mr. Sawant alleged that examination scams similar to the Vyapam scam were flourishing under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tenure. He further claimed that people involved in such scams had links to BJP leaders. He also alleged that the same officials had been working in the MH-CET examination cell for the past eight to 10 years without transfers. “Exams like NEET and MH-CET decide the future of students; do not play with the future of lakhs of students by committing scams in this manner,” he said.
