PANJIM: The High Court of Bombay at Goa has directed both -- the State and Central government to conduct the proctored examination for the Basic Course in Bio-Medical Research (BCBR) latest by May 31, so as to facilitate the post-graduate student who could not answer the originally scheduled exams last month due to technical snag in enrolling for the exams.
Petitioner RashmiVijaykumar, a post-graduate student of Otorhinolaryngology (ENT) in her writ petition stated that she had satisfied every requirement to appear for the BCBR online exams including the requisite attendance, thesis, paper presentation, etc, scheduled in April 2023.
The petitioner attempted to register herself for the exams scheduled on April 29 and 30 and after her persistent attempts to log in, the website displayed message “you have not enrolled in any courses” or that “the registration has closed”.
The High Court observed that a delay of about a year will have a serious consequences for a post-graduate medical student and asked the Medical Council of India (MCI) to consider whether such further examination can be held in May, so that not only the petitioner but similarly other candidates get an opportunity to save a year.
But the respondent’s lawyer Raviraj Chodankar submitted that it was not feasible to hold examination in May or June, and the next examination is scheduled on July 16, 2023. He told the Court that the portal was open for 41 days and as many as 48 students from the State registered online thereby rendering the petitioner’s contention about a technical snag, vulnerable.
But the High Court said that a student cannot be made to suffer and lose an entire academic year due to technical issues and aligned with the view of the Telangana High Court which had directed that a proctored examination be held for similarly situated petitioner.
“Let the proctored examination be conducted by the respondents on or before May 31, 2023 and the result shall be declared on or before June 7, 2023,” said Justice Rohit B Deo.