HC Rules Over Cancellation of MBBS Admission Test Results

A High Court Division bench today issued a rule asking the concerned authorities why the published results of the Medical Admission Test (MBBS) will not be declared invalid and why the question papers and answer sheets of the admission test will not be submitted to the court.

HC Division bench comprised of Justice Md Mojibur Rahman Mia and Justice Md Kamrul Hossain Mollah passed the order today. The Secretary of the Ministry of Health, the Secretary of Education, the Director General and Director of the Department of Health Education and the Director General (DG) of the Department of Health have been asked to respond to the rule within the next 10 days.

Barrister Md Humayun Kabir, counsel for the writ petitioner, informed the media about the court order. 

Earlier, a writ petition was filed on behalf of 195 MBBS admission candidates for declaring the erroneous results of the MBBS admission test in the 2020-2021 academic year as out of legal jurisdiction and for directing them to submit the question papers and answer sheets to the court.

According to the writ petition, the results of the MBBS admission test for the 2020-2021 academic year, published on April 4, contained numerous errors and major inconsistencies. 

According to the admission test rules promulgated by the Department of Health Education last February, if a candidate participates in the admission test for the second time while he is admitted to a medical college, 7.5 marks will be deducted from his obtained marks. 

Again, if a candidate participates in the medical examination for  the second time, then 5 marks will be deducted from the obtained marks. None of the rules were followed accordingly in case of some students. 

The writ further states that in this year's admission test, at least two objective questions had multiple correct answers, according to the textbooks approved by the National Curriculum and Textbook Board. At the same time there was no correct answer to at least three questions. 

Widespread inconsistencies have also been observed in filling the reserved district and tribal quota seats. Numerous ordinary students have been elected in the reserved seats in the tribal quota, says the writ. 

As a result of compiling the merit list keeping in view these errors and inconsistencies, thousands of deserving and meritorious candidates have been deprived of admission in the medical colleges. 

For these reasons, students have repeatedly requested the concerned authorities to publish the new merit list by canceling the published results and correcting the errors and inconsistencies, but no visible action has been taken. Instead of on the basis of faulty merit list, the Department of Health Education has been conducting admission process in medical colleges from May 22, 2020-2021 academic year, the writ petition said.