The Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday assured students who appeared for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test of its support, a day after the Madras High Court directed the Central Board of Secondary Education to grant 196 grace marks to those who wrote the exam in Tamil.
“The High Court direction has been given to CBSE,” state Health and Family Welfare Minister C Vijayabaskar told reporters, according to PTI. “Action will be taken on behalf of our government based on the further steps to be taken by CBSE.”
Vijayabaskar said the government was yet to receive a copy of the order, but added that the government was in favour of Tamil students taking the test.
The court made the ruling on Tuesday based on a plea by Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP TK Rangarajan, who said that full marks should be given for 49 questions, which he said were mistranslated from English to Tamil. The High Court also ordered the CBSE to revise the list of rank holders within two weeks. Its decision will benefit around 24,000 students.
The Communist Party of India welcomed the order. Its Tamil Nadu Secretary R Mutharasan urged the education board to implement it.
Nearly 13.3 lakh students took the test at 2,255 exam centres across 136 cities on May 6 for admission to MBBS and BDS courses in colleges approved by the Medical Council of India and the Dental Council of India. The exam results were published in June and the counselling process has already begun. In Tamil Nadu, about 1.07 lakh candidates took the test across 170 centres in 10 cities, PTI reported.
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