CUET to be conducted in 3 shifts: UGC chief

MERGER WITH JEE, NEET TO BE ANNOUNCED 2 YEARS IN ADVANCE

NEW DELHI, MAR 15 (PTI): The Common University Entrance Test (CUET)-UG will be conducted in three shifts in a day this year instead of two and plans for its merger with crucial entrance exams like JEE and NEET will be announced at least two years in advance, according to UGC chairman M Jagadesh Kumar.

In an interview to PTI, Kumar said the UGC and National Testing Agency (NTA) are prepared to ensure that the second edition of CUET-UG is glitch free.

Acknowledging the glitches that students experienced last year, he said all issues that the students went through would be taken care of this year. He said the centres would be identified well in advance so that the second edition is glitch free.

“I agree there were several glitches during the exam last time but this year all issues have been ironed out. Keeping in mind the experience of the students, a plan has been chalked out and we are ready to ensure that the candidates just have to worry about the exam and not any glitches,” he said.

The second edition of the exam, a common gateway for undergraduate admissions in central universities across the country, is scheduled from May 21 to 31. Kumar said that extra computers and extra centres have been arranged as plan B so that in case there are any glitches, the candidates can be shifted there and the exam for a particular shift will not be cancelled.

The UGC chief also announced that in a deviation from the usual pattern, the exam will be conducted in three shifts from this year.

Asked about the proposal to merge CUET with engineering entrance exam JEE and medical entrance exam NEET, he said, “It is definitely doable. The details are being worked out but whenever the merger happens, announcement will be made at least two years in advance so the students can prepare accordingly.”

The UGC had in March last year announced that undergraduate admissions will be conducted in all central universities through a common entrance test and not on the basis of class 12 marks. The debut edition of the CUET-UG was conducted in July last year

Lalu, family at Delhi court in land-for-job scam

and was marred by glitches, prompting the NTA to cancel the exam at multiple centres. While several students were informed about cancellation a night before the exam, many of them were turned away from centres.

The UGC chairman had then said the exam at certain centres have been cancelled following reports of “sabotage”.

With 14.9 lakh registrations, the CUET, the common gateway for undergraduate admissions in all central universities, became the second biggest entrance exam in the country, surpassing JEE-Main’s average registration of nine lakh.

“We have already received over 11.5 lakh registrations this year. The deadline has been extended till March 30 and we are expecting the applications to cross last year’s number,” Kumar said.

Asked about “normalisation” of scores which left several aspirants disappointed as they found their marks reduced from their original scores, making it difficult for them to get their dream college, he said efforts have been made to minimise any errors during the process.

Maha Gov’s role under scrutiny of SC

NEW DELHI, MARCH 15(AGENCIES): A Governor must exercise power cautiously and be aware that calling for a trust vote could bring down the government, the Supreme Court said today in sharp remarks while hearing a case on the Shiv Sena coup. Calling for a trust vote just on grounds of differences within a ruling party can topple an elected government, said the court.

NEW DELHI, MARCH

15 (IANS): RJD national president Lalu Prasad along with his wife Rabri Devi and daughter arrived at Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court to appear in a case related to the alleged land-for-job scam. The court had on February 27 issued summons to them in the case which concerns alleged appointments made in the Railways in exchange for land parcels given or sold to Lalu Prasad’s family while he served as the Union Railway Minister from 2004 to 2009.

In its charge sheet, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said that irregular appointments had been made in the Railways, in violation of the standards and guidelines established by the Indian Railways for hiring. It is alleged that the candidates gave Lalu

Maha woman who chopped mother arrested

MUMBAI, MARCH 15

(IANS): In a grisly act, a 24-year-old woman allegedly killed her widowed mother, chopped up her body, and kept the parts in plastic bags that were hidden in the cupboard for nearly three months, a police official said on Wednesday.

The spine-chilling incident came to light late on Tuesday when the Kalachowki police were investigating the complaint that the widow, identified as Veena Prakash Jain, 55, was missing.

The police swung into action and arrested the victim’s daughter Rimple P. Jain in connection with the murder of her mother, though the exact motives behind the ghastly crime are not yet clear.

The deceased woman’s elder brother, Sureshkumar Phulchand Porwal, 60, had filed the complaint late on Tuesday night after Rimple refused to let his son (her cousin) meet her mother. After Porwal’s complaint when the police team reached the Jains’ first floor home in Ibrahim Kasam Chawl, Peru Compound in the Lalbaug area, Rimple

SAZOLIE initially did not permit them to enter.

However, the police team sensed a stench emanating from the home and after some tough words, they finally gained entry to the home and launched a search.

The police team encountered a sight straight out of a horror film - they found big and small pieces of Veena’s body, wrapped in plastic bags and stored in the cupboard and other places.

The murder is believed to have been committed sometime after the noon of November 26, 2022, and her body, in bits and pieces, was recovered around midnight last night.

“The body pieces were in an advanced state of decomposition, there was a deathly stench in the entire home, maggots and insects crawling around the place... We immediately summoned the forensic team to investigate the full home and sent the victim’s body to KEM Hospital for an autopsy,” said an official, who is part of the probe team.

Prasad’s family members land at extremely reduced prices -- up to one-fifth of the going market rates -directly or through their close relatives and family members.

The CBI had filed the charge sheet in the case on October 10, 2022, against 16 persons including Lalu Prasad’s wife Rabri Devi and daughter and sanction was then obtained to prosecute them.

Special Judge Geetanjali Goel of Rouse Avenue Courts had on February 27 observed that, prima facie, the on-record report shows that offences have been committed under different sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Taking cognisance of the said offences, the judge then summoned the accused persons.

Hearing the Sena versus Sena case, the Supreme Court made strong observations on Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari’s role in the Maharashtra vote that unseated the Uddhav Thackeray-led government last year.

“The Governor must be conscious that calling for a trust vote may lead to the toppling of the government,” said a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud.

“The Governor should not enter any area which precipitates the fall of a government. People will start ditching the ruling party and the Governor will end up toppling the ruling party. This will be a sad spectacle for democracy,” said the judges, adding that governors must exercise their powers with the greatest circumspection.

The three-year-old Uddhav Thackeray-led SenaNCP-Congress coalition in Maharashtra lost power after a coup in the Shiv Sena by Eknath Shinde, who went on to form a new government with the BJP in June.

Mr Koshyari had asked for a test of majority, but Mr Thackeray resigned, facing defeat, making way for Mr Shinde to take power.

The factions led by Mr Thackeray and Eknath Shinde have since been fighting for recognition as the “real Shiv Sena”.

Last month, the Election Commission handed over the Shiv Sena name and poll symbol to the Eknath Shinde faction.

Mr Thackeray, despite losing control of the party founded by his father Bal Thackeray, continues to fight the Shinde faction in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is hearing petitions that question the foundation of the Shinde government, arguing that Mr Shinde and 15 other rebels were disqualified at the time of the trust vote.

Chief Justice Chandrachud commented during the hearing: “They broke bread for three years. They broke bread with (Congress) and NCP for three years. What happened overnight after three years of happy marriage?”

The Governor, he said, has to ask himself this question - “What were you fellas doing for three years? If it was one month after the election takes place and they suddenly bypassed the BJP and joined INC, that’s different. Three years you cohabit and suddenly one fine day group of 34 say there is discontent. Enjoying the spoils of office and suddenly one day you just...”

What was the basis for a floor test, the bench asked repeatedly.

“Governor’s trust vote is where the majority in the house is shaken. Where was there anything to indicate that?” Justice Chandrachud questioned.

“Difference of opinion among MLAs within a party can be on any ground like payment of development fund or deviation from party ethos but can that be a sufficient ground for the governor to call for the floor test? Governor cannot lend his office to effectuate a particular result.”

When the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta argued that the rebels had lost confidence in Uddhav Thackeray, Justice Chandrachud said: “Discontent in the party by itself will not justify governor calling a trust vote.”

The Chief Justice said the Governor cannot be oblivious of the fact that in a three-party coalition, dissent took place only in one.

Wanted