Around 100 candidates on Tuesday faced harassment when they turned up at a private engineering college near Calcutta to appear for UGC’s National Eligibility Test (NET) and had to wait for around an hour to take the exam.

Armed with admit cards, the candidates reached the private engineering college at Budge Budge around 7.30 am. Clearing the test is necessary to be eligible for selection to the post of assistant professor and junior research fellow in colleges and universities across the country.

Ujjwal Sardar, a NET candidate and researcher from Baruipur, said: “The reporting time for the NET for history was at 7.30 am and the exam was scheduled to start at 9 am. We were shocked when the authorities informed us that there was no planned exam at that venue today. We showed our documents but the college authorities refused to listen to us. When we protested against such mismanagement, a group of people attached to the college manhandled a few candidates.”

Sources said the college authorities informed the police and a team from Budge Budge police station arrived to manage the situation. “One of the candidates informed the UGC about the mismanagement and finally, we were able to take the examination around 10.15 am, which is one and 15 minutes after the exam had started at venues across India. Such a mess with an exam like NET is unacceptable,” he added.

Officials of the private engineering college claimed they had no prior information from UGC or the agency conducting NET that there would be an exam in the college. UGC sources said that the National Testing Agency (NTA) had been assigned the task of conducting the examination.

“Following students’ agitation, we contacted the UGC. A director of the ministry of education in New Delhi sent us an e-mail around 9.15 am requesting us to take the examination. After that, we asked our staff to reach the college and required arrangements were made to take the exam,” said Sanjay Gupta, the head of the operation of the private engineering college in Budge Budge.

Gupta, however, denied allegations of manhandling a few candidates and claimed a section of them were involved in a brawl with security guards. A senior official in the ministry of education in New Delhi said they would start a probe to find out the reason behind such mismanagement but denied allegations levelled by the private engineering college authorities.

“We will certainly look into finding out the lapses that resulted in the mismanagement. However, the claim of the college authorities that they had not been informed is not correct. If there was no information, then how could they organise such a national-level examination on short notice? We have information that there was a mock test done in the venue on Monday. We sent the e-mail (today) only to ensure a peaceful completion of the examination,” said the senior official in the ministry of education on condition of anonymity when he was contacted on Tuesday afternoon.

Gupta, the head of operations in the engineering college, however, said the ministry sent the e-mail as there was no previous communication. The candidates demanded a probe and stern action against those responsible for their harassment.

“It is not our concern who is right or wrong. We demand a thorough probe into the mismanagement and punishment for those who are guilty,” said a candidate who had come for the test from a remote pocket of the Sunderbans.