Foul Play Likely in CMAT Merit List, Angry Students Demand Probe

CMAT 2018 saw 7 of 9 top scorers take the exam at the same centre. Will the Union HRD Ministry call for a probe?

Will the Union HRD Ministry intervene and call for a probe into the CMAT 2018 merit list?

(Photo: The Quint)

Video Editor: Mohd Ibrahim

The CMAT or the Common Management Admission Test – a national MBA entrance exam – has thrown up a shocker in its merit list in 2018.

Of the top 24 scorers of CMAT 2018, 17 of them appeared for the exam at the exact same centre. Among the top nine students, seven are from this one particular centre.

The exam was held across 75 cities at 177 centres this year. And more than 70 percent of the toppers just miraculously ended up taking the exam at ONE of those 177 centres – in Gurugram’s DPG Institute of Technology and Management.

The first three digits in the CMAT roll number indicate the centre. It’s the same for most of the students on this list.

The students who appeared for the exam are angry. They’re calling, mailing and tweeting to the authorities, demanding a response. They’ve even set up a Facebook page ‘CMAT 2018 SCAM’, hoping to be heard.

Source: AICTE-CMAT.in(Infographic: Saumya Pankaj/The Quint)

So, what’s the fuss all about?

Such an anomaly in merit lists, like the one seen this year, is not normal. Take a look at the CMAT toppers from last year.

In 2017, the top 20 CMAT scorers were from 14 different cities and 19 different centres. In 2016, and 2015 too, roll numbers were varied, indicating that the toppers were from various exam centres across the country.

But this year, the question is – how did a majority of the toppers take the exam from the same centre?

The CMAT exam is conducted by the AICTE – the All India Council for Technical Education – which works under the ambit of the Union HRD Ministry.

The AICTE, so far, has vehemently denied any wrongdoing or foul play. But here’s the funny part – they’ve denied the possibility of any foul play without even conducting an investigation first.

Here’s what the AICTE Chairman Anil Sahasrabudhe told us,

Those who answered correctly have done well. If someone else has gone to the same coaching and they know all the answers, how would I know? There has been strict invigilation at all the centres. We have camera recordings of the same.

Anil Sahasrabudhe, AICTE Chairman

• If there are camera recordings of this Gurugram centre, why doesn’t AICTE check them and come clean with what transpired?
• How can the administration be so sure that all is well WITHOUT a probe?
• “Those who answered correctly have done well” – sure. But doesn’t such an improbable merit list deserve a fair investigation at least? Seven of the top nine toppers don’t just turn up at the same centre for every other exam.
• Will the Union HRD Ministry intervene and call for a probe?

In the interests of transparency, the students deserve an independent probe. That’s the only way to know whether what went down at Gurugram was a case of cheating, copying or any sort of foul play – or as the AICTE claims, a mere coincidence.

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