Digital Lock Malfunction Disrupts NEET Exam, Leading to Topper Anomaly
In a significant development surrounding the NEET and NET paper leak row, Bihar Police's Economic Offences Unit (EOU) has revealed that the digital locks securing the NEET-UG question paper boxes sent by the National Testing Agency (NTA) to examination centers malfunctioned.
These digital locks were designed to open automatically at the commencement of the exam. However, at multiple centers, they failed, necessitating manual opening. This resulted in a delay in distributing question papers to candidates.
The issue surfaced on May 5th, when NEET exam papers were distributed late at several centers. As a compensatory measure, NTA awarded grace marks to 1,563 candidates. This led to an unprecedented number of 67 toppers in NEET's history.
The EOU's investigation concluded that the delay was directly attributed to the digital lock failure. Compounding the issue, two sets of papers were distributed hastily at three centers in Haryana's Bahadurgarh - Vijaya School, SR Century School, and Hardayal Public School.
While school management confirmed the distribution of two papers, they clarified that one set was later retrieved. Candidates were granted an additional 30 minutes and grace marks, but only those at Hardayal Public School received these marks.
At Vijaya School, one box was opened manually at 1:15 pm on May 5th, while three remained unopened. NTA officials instructed manual opening upon being notified of the issue. Amidst the resulting chaos, both sets of papers were distributed.
Standard procedure dictates that manual unboxing requires two locks, one held by the center observer of NTA and the other by the sensor superintendent. This process is meticulously video-recorded by NTA.
The central question now is why the digital locks malfunctioned as they should have. The EOU submitted its findings to the Union Education Ministry on Saturday, prompting the replacement of NTA Director General Subodh Kumar Singh with retired IAS officer Pradeep Singh Kharola.
The Centre has entrusted the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) with the task of investigating the paper leaks in NEET and NET.
