The High Court on Wednesday stayed the publication of the results of Dhaka University鈥檚 Faculty of Business Studies admission test for two months due to alleged errors in the question paper.
The bench of Justice Fatema Najib and Justice Sikder Mahmudur Razi issued the order after hearing a writ petition filed by an admission seeker, Zihan Al Fuad.
The court also issued a rule asking the university authorities to explain why they should not be directed to cancel the February 8 admission test and conduct a fresh one for business studies applicants.
The education secretary, Dhaka University vice-chancellor, registrar, and the dean of the faculty were made respondents to the rule.
Appearing in person, petitioner Zihan Al Fuad informed the court that he had identified multiple discrepancies in the question paper.
In the question paper, seven questions in Set A of the accounting section were inconsistent with another version of Set A and four questions were repeated.
In the English section, question numbers 17, 18, 19, 23, and 24 differed between different versions of Set A.
In the finance section of the question paper, question number 65 and 69 had no linguistic similarity between the Bangla and the English versions.
The court observed that, given the gravity and urgency of the matter, the writ petition should be resolved without issuing a rule, allowing the university to conduct a fresh test as soon as possible.
However, Dhaka University鈥檚 lawyer Mohammad Shishir Manir argued that the court could not grant full relief without issuing a formal rule on the writ petition.
He further stated that the petition would become irrelevant if the university decided to hold a re-examination.
The university authorities informed the court that an emergency syndicate meeting would be held on Saturday or Sunday to decide the next course of action if the stay order remained in effect.
The faculty dean Mohamood Osman Imam, along with two expert panel members, admitted to errors in the question paper but sought court approval to publish the results.
They proposed allowing aggrieved candidates to apply for re-assessment instead of holding a fresh exam.
The university stated that it had engaged experts to evaluate the question papers and devise a solution that would minimize harm to candidates.
However, the expert committee acknowledged that its recommended method was not entirely error-free.
The court noted that the proposed evaluation method might still contain errors, which could violate the rights of 30,000 admission seekers.
Given the potential impact on candidates, the court opted to put the results on hold, pending further review.