CUET exam centre row | Govt takes up matter with NTA

Department taking corrective measures, Director Colleges is on the job: Special Secy HED

Syed Rizwan Geelani

Srinagar: Amid the hue and cry over the allotment of Common University Entrance Test (CUET) exam centres outside Kashmir, the government has taken up the matter with the concerned authorities in National Testing Agency (NTA), New Delhi.

The NTA has left hundreds of students in despair as their exam centres for CUET (UG)-2023 have been allotted outside Kashmir.

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The students have complained that their preference for exam centres had been ignored by the NTA and they have been allotted exam centres outside J&K.

Most of the students complained to Greater Kashmir that they had been allotted their exam centres in Chandigarh, Jammu, Patiala, Bhatinda, and other cities, leaving students high and dry.

NTA on May 16 issued exam city intimation slip for the CUET UG-2023.

The entrance test will take place on May 25, 26, 27 and 28.

Talking to Greater Kashmir, Special Secretary Higher Education Department (HED) Ravi Shankar Sharma said that the issue had come to their notice and the department was taking corrective measures while the matter had been taken up with the concerned authorities.

"We have taken up the matter with the NTA. Director Colleges, J&K is on the job. She has taken up the matter with NTA and I hope it will be rectified," Sharma said.

This year all the universities of J&K decided to take admissions to undergraduate and postgraduate courses through a written test conducted by the NTA from the current academic session.

Around 80,000 students have applied for the CUET exam from J&K.

Meanwhile, a top NTA official said that they had received the information about the exam centres of Kashmiri students being allotted outside J&K.

"We are discussing the possibilities of how we can rectify it but nothing has been finalised yet. It is actually very difficult to make changes at this stage," the official said.

The official said that only 8 lakh aspirants applied for NEET throughout the country while 14 lakh aspirants had applied for CUET.

"The problem is that institutes like NIT Srinagar and other universities are using upgraded versions and our exam is conducted by using comparatively older versions. That is why we did not allot centres in Srinagar NIT like institutes," the official said. (GK)