A day after the Union Education Ministry cancelled the University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET), the Trinamool Congress on Thursday slammed the BJP-led Centre and demanded a Supreme Court-monitored investigation into the “scam”.
Trinamool Congress leaders said that a CBI probe into the UGC-NET “scam” would not reveal the truth since the CBI was a Central agency.
“New scam in the market in the series of scams! Cancellation of UGC-NET due to compromised integrity of the examination! CBI enquiry has been ordered! Question is can they nab the HEAD?” West Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu said in a post on X.
On Wednesday night, the Union Education Ministry announced the cancellation of the UGC-NET, a day after the examination was held, saying that inputs from the Ministry of Home Affairs had suggested that “the integrity of the examinations had been compromised”. The UGC-NET is conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA).
The Ministry added that a fresh examination would be conducted and the matter would be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation for a thorough probe.
Senior Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh said the party demands a Supreme Court-monitored investigation to expose the scam. “The CBI is under the Centre. Therefore, the investigation will not bring out the truth. The real culprit will not be punished. The CBI probe will shield them instead. The UGC NET has become a huge scam. A Supreme Court-monitored investigation is needed to expose this scam,” Ghosh said.
The BJP, meanwhile, criticised the Trinamool Congress for speaking on matters related to the education sector, pointing out that several State Ministers are in jail for their involvement in multiple scams.