The education ministry has appointed National Testing Agency (NTA) chairman Pradeep Kumar Joshi as head of a key committee mandated to select the vice-chancellor of a central university, at a time the exam authority has been battered by allegations of irregularities and goof-ups in the conduct of examinations.

The ministry recently made Joshi head of the search-cum-selection committee for the post of VC of Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya (MGAHV), Wardha.

The ministry advertised the post of VC in January. According to the norms, a search-cum-selection committee of experts is supposed to interact with shortlisted candidates and recommend a list of probables for the post. The education ministry sends the list to the President, the Visitor of the central universities, for final approval.

The Joshi-led panel is learnt to have recommended five candidates, including two candidates who do not have the required 10 years’ experience as professors. The advertisement wanted the candidates to possess 10 years’ experience as professor or 10 years’ experience as a leader in a reputed research institution.

On July 2, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh told the Rajya Sabha that Joshi was appointed NTA chief because of political considerations rather than merit. He demanded Joshi’s resignation.

The Telegraph sent an email to higher education secretary Sanjay Murthy on Tuesday asking why Joshi was appointed chairman of the search-cum-selection panel. His response is awaited.

Joshi has been made chairman of the committee at a time when the NTA is facing widespread complaints of irregularities in the conduct of recruitment exams, among them tests for the posts of examiner of patents and designs. The alleged glitches and irregularities in the test included discrepancies in instructions regarding the marking scheme, deciding the cut-off without declaring the results of over 200 candidates and holding a retest for over a thousand candidates without any public notice.

Several candidates have moved Delhi High Court, where the case is pending. The NTA had held the preliminary test in December 2023 and declared 10,474 candidates eligible to take the mains exam on January 25. According to the NTA, “some candidates received admit cards with centre details of the preliminary examination held on 21 December 2023 initially”. The NTA held a retest of the mains exam for 1,037 candidates on February 5 without any public notice.

The candidates alleged discrepancies in the marking scheme as the “Subject Specific Instruction” issued by the NTA on January 23, 2024, mentioned a provision for negative marks for incorrect answers. When the candidates sat for the test, every question on the computer screen displayed “Positive Mark-1/Negative Mark-0”.

Later in June, the NTA’s image was further sullied by leaks and irregularities in the conduct of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and the National Eligibility Test (NET). The government has admitted to irregularities in both the tests.