They could not pay fee before deadline due to power outage
The Madras High Court has directed the Central Board of Secondary
Education (CBSE) to allow 38 aspiring medical students from Tamil Nadu,
who could not pay the prescribed fee within the deadline due to poor
internet connection and power outage, to appear for NEET UG 2017.
M. Mugunathan and 37 others, who were aspiring to pursue medical courses, approached internet centres in their respective districts to apply for NEET UG 2017.
Though they were successful till the stage of applying and getting the application registered, they were unsuccessful in completing the procedure by paying the required fees, as they faced problems in receiving the one-time password (OTP) to process the payment, and ultimately missed the deadline as there was no other way to pay the fee.
They said they had to wait till the last date, as they were expecting a policy announcement from the State government with regard to exemption from NEET, as was done the previous year.
When the pleas came up for hearing, Justice Puspha Sathyanarayana said, “The initiative taken by the CBSE to conduct the examination online is a laudable one. However, connectivity has to be addressed or provisions ought to have been made for an alternative method for situations like the present cases.”
The candidates concerned hail from various districts of Tamil Nadu.
Perennial problems
Low internet speed and power outages are perennial problems faced by many people, even those in metropolitan cities.
“Therefore, no mala fide can be imputed to these candidates, who could not remit the fees online in the absence of any alternative mode,” she added.
The judge then directed the CBSE to receive their fees through RTGS on or before May 2 and issue hall tickets.
M. Mugunathan and 37 others, who were aspiring to pursue medical courses, approached internet centres in their respective districts to apply for NEET UG 2017.
Though they were successful till the stage of applying and getting the application registered, they were unsuccessful in completing the procedure by paying the required fees, as they faced problems in receiving the one-time password (OTP) to process the payment, and ultimately missed the deadline as there was no other way to pay the fee.
They said they had to wait till the last date, as they were expecting a policy announcement from the State government with regard to exemption from NEET, as was done the previous year.
When the pleas came up for hearing, Justice Puspha Sathyanarayana said, “The initiative taken by the CBSE to conduct the examination online is a laudable one. However, connectivity has to be addressed or provisions ought to have been made for an alternative method for situations like the present cases.”
Perennial problems
Low internet speed and power outages are perennial problems faced by many people, even those in metropolitan cities.
“Therefore, no mala fide can be imputed to these candidates, who could not remit the fees online in the absence of any alternative mode,” she added.
The judge then directed the CBSE to receive their fees through RTGS on or before May 2 and issue hall tickets.
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