MHT- CET examination pattern is totally transparent – Commissioner Dilip Sardesai

Mumbai : Maharashtra is the first state in the entire nation for conducting the admission process of professional courses in a computerized and centralized manner. This method was later implemented by the Union Government. The process is totally transparent and free from human intervention so the students and their parents should not believe on rumours, this appeal has been made by the Commissioner of Maharashtra State Common Entrance Test (MHT –CET) cell Dilip Sardesai in a Press Conference, here today.

The Press Conference was today afternoon conducted at the legislature press room at Mantralaya. Commissioner Sardesai was addressing the media in presence of Director of higher education department Dr Shailendra Deolankar, Director of technical education department Vinod Mohitkar. Other dignitaries were also present on the occasion.

Commissioner Sardesai further said that the MHT- CET 2024 examinations were conducted by the State Common Entrance Test cell. He said that the state common entrance examination cell conducted the MHT -CET 2024 entrance examination for engineering, pharmacy and Agriculture courses between 22 to 30 April 2024 (PCB group) and from 2nd to 16th of May 2024 (PCM group). The examinations were conducted at a total of 169 examination centres. The PCB group examinations were conducted in 12 sessions, whereas PCM tests were held in 18 sessions. A total of 3 lakh 30 thousand 988 male students, 3 lakh 94 thousand 33 female students and 31 transgender candidates registered their name through an online system. Out of these, 6 lakh 75 thousand 377 students appeared for the common entrance test.

If any candidate gives an incorrect answer for any question, there is no negative marking. The said results have been declared using percentile method. In these examinations, none of the candidates were given Grace Marks. If the candidate or their parents had any objection regarding the questions or answers, the CET cell provided them with an online facility for registering their objections. These objections registered by the candidates were verified by the respective subject experts and accordingly, the answer sheets were modified, and the report of the modified answer sheets was published on the website of CET cell for the information of the candidates.

The process of result was implemented after incorporating the revised answer sheets as per the suggestions of the subject experts. The marks obtained by candidates are declared according to the formula of the result process and the session wise results were declared in the form of percentile.

The candidate who had equal marks i.e. ‘Raw score’ in a single session were given equal percentile. Similarly, the tests were conducted on different days in two sessions each, so the ‘Raw Score’ related to various sessions and the percentile of the candidates are different.

Mr Sardesai further said, ‘The objection that the candidates did not get the marks they scored as per the answer sheets made available to them is also incorrect.’ He said that the facility for registering objections was made available by this office, through online mode.

The objections that were registered by the candidates, have been verified by the respective subject experts and the answer sheets had been modified accordingly. The report had been published on cetcell.mahacet.org site of CET cell for the information of the candidates.

The process of the results was implemented as per the amended answer sheets. Marks obtained by the candidates have been declared in the form of session wise percentile, following the formula set for the process of result. The examinations are held in different batches, but a single merit list is declared.

Another objection was that the question papers for each batch are different however, the result of each session is calculated, independently. This procedure had been made available on the website of CET cell. It was published in April 2024 well in advance before the commencement of the examination. Therefore, this objection is also incorrect.

Till date, about 200 candidates and parents had filed the applications with the CET cell, Mumbai office and many applications were received via email. All of them are verified, every complaint is addressed and resolved by the CET.

It was also informed in the Press Conference that 54 candidates whose objections were accepted for consideration, were refunded the amount deposited by them, using online mode in their bank accounts.

It was underlined that the results of the examinations are declared batch wise for providing equal opportunity to all the candidates in each session and this examination pattern has been implemented since the year 2018-19.

It was also informed that the proposal to provide opportunity to the students for having a look at their answer sheets after completion of technical formalities on 27 and 28 of June 2024 on the website of CET cell, is on the cards, commissioner Dilip Sardesai said. Dr Deolankar and Mr Mohitkar gave information about the examination pattern.