Education Ministry Joint Secretary Govind Jaiswal said the details of the inputs cannot be shared as the matter has been referred to the CBI and is currently under investigation.
New Delhi: A day after the UGC-NET was cancelled, Education Ministry officials announced on Thursday that no complaints were received about the exam but a suo motu action was taken on the basis of inputs available with them to protect students’ interest. Education Ministry Joint Secretary Govind Jaiswal said the details of the inputs cannot be shared as the matter has been referred to the CBI and is currently under investigation.
“No complaints were received but the inputs we received from agencies indicated that the integrity of the exam has been compromised. The action was taken suo motu to safeguard interests of the students,” he said, news agency PTI reported. “A fresh date for the exam will be announced soon,” Jaiswal told reporters, news agency PTI reported.
The UGC – NET June 2024 examination is conducted for (i) ‘award of Junior Research Fellowship and appointment as Assistant Professor’, (ii) ‘appointment as Assistant Professor and admission to Ph.D.’ and (iii) ‘admission to Ph.D. only’. The examination was held in 83 subjects in OMR (Pen and Paper), mode on June 18, 2024. However, the examination was cancelled. “On 19th June, 2024, the University Grants Commission (UGC) received certain inputs from National Cyber Crime Threat Analytics Unit of Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the Ministry of Home Affairs on the Examination. These inputs prima-facie indicate that the integrity of the aforesaid examination may have been compromised,” reads the press release.
“To ensure the highest level of transparency and sanctity of the examination process, the Ministry of Education, Government of India has decided that the UGC-NET June 2024 Examination be cancelled. A fresh examination shall be conducted, for which information shall be shared separately. Simultaneously, the matter is being handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (C.B.I.) for thorough investigation in the matter,” the press release added.
(With PTI Inputs)