NEW DELHI: After the UGC-NET, the National Testing Agency (NTA) postponed the June edition of the Joint CSIR UGC NET on June 21, citing unavoidable circumstances and logistical issues.
Amid significant controversy surrounding the NEET medical exam results, the NTA stated in a circular, “The Joint CSIR-UGC-NET Examination June-2024 which was scheduled to be held between 25.06.2024 and 27.06.2024 is being postponed due to unavoidable circumstances as well as logistic issues. The revised schedule for the conduct of this examination will be announced later through the official website.”
The Joint CSIR UGC NET is conducted for Junior Research Fellowship (JRF), Lectureship (LS), and Assistant Professor positions in Indian universities and colleges, subject to fulfilling eligibility criteria set by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
It has been reported that on Friday, the Education Minister was briefed about claims circulating on a messaging app regarding the alleged leak of the CSIR-UGC NET paper. While the Education Ministry had not received any confirmation from the Home Ministry or I4C (MHA’s centre for fighting cybercrime) regarding these claims, similar to the situation with UGC-NET, it was decided to postpone the exam to ensure no doubts remain about the integrity of the paper, according to sources. The NTA has been instructed to conduct the exam after preparing a new set of questions.
This decision followed extensive meetings chaired by Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, attended by UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar and Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba. It coincided with the Department of Personnel and Training notification of the Centre’s new anti-paper leak law, the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act 2024, passed by Parliament in February.
Since December 2019, NTA has conducted CSIR-UGC NET in online mode on behalf of the UGC and Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. Approximately 2 lakh candidates were expected to appear for the CSIR-UGC NET.