Some parents have accused the National Testing Agency (NTA) of unfair practices in announcing the results of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research All India Entrance Examination (ICAR AIEEA) for admissions to undergraduate courses in agriculture and allied science subjects.
The NTA is an autonomous institution under the Centre that conducts entrance examinations for admission to and fellowship in higher educational institutions.
The nationwide entrance tests were conducted in two shifts each on September 16, 17 and 22. C.A. Sureshan, a parent from Payyannur in Kannur district, told The Hindu on Sunday that the questions on the first day were very tough, the second day moderately tough, and the last day very easy. The agency published the mark cards on November 1. The counselling process was launched soon after the rank list was published on November 7, Mr. Sureshan said.
He alleged that the agency had not resorted to normalisation procedures and announcement of percentile score as per norms, but published the rank list based on marks scored.
A section in the handbook released by the NTA says that if the exams are being conducted in multiple shifts, the raw marks obtained by the candidates in different shifts or sessions will be converted to NTA score (percentile). The calculated NTA score for the raw marks for all the shifts or sessions will be merged for further processing for deciding the allocation.
Mr. Sureshan said those who had written the exam in the final shifts might have scored high marks and high ranks due to the faulty publication of the rank list.
‘An injustice’
A.P. Padmaja, another parent, in a letter to the ICAR, said the agency had done injustice to the candidates. Calls and e-mails to the agency had not yielded results. “We are thinking of legal recourse now,” Mr. Sureshan said.
