The Educational Testing and Evaluation Agency (ETEA) has decided to produce exam sheets of at least 134 ‘doubtful’ candidates of the Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) in court, sources within the agency told Aaj News.

The ETEA – a government agency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to conduct medical exam tests – had re-checked at least 3,200 “suspected papers”.

When asked, sources said that the agency came to the conclusion that the reviewed candidates were doubtful after seeing that their rough sheets – a plain document attached with the answer sheet to do calculations – were empty. Such students had obtained high marks from 170 to 190 out of 200.

They added that the agency would produce candidates who have secured over 170 marks before the unfair means (UFM) committee. Students can be banned for two to three years from appearing in exams if they are found involved in cheating under the UFM.

The development comes three days after the KP cabinet decided to re-conduct MDCAT following allegations of massive cheating in a previous exam held on September 10.

Although the successful candidates have not welcomed the decision, many experts have raised concerns over the jurisdiction of the interim government for the announcement of the test date.

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The matter is already pending before the Peshawar High Court, which in its last hearing of the case barred the medical colleges from uploading results of the MDCAT on their official websites until the findings of a joint investigation team were received.

As many as 78 writ petitions have been filed in the Peshawar High Court, seeking cancellation of the medical test exam, conducting test from any other agency than the ETEA, and a lifetime ban for those who were arrested on the day of the test. They have also sought a judicial inquiry into it.

Sources added that they had prior information about the cheating after receiving the intelligence report. To avert this, the agency had suggested the provincial administration and police install jammers but it was “not followed”.

“The [MDCAT] test would be conducted within six weeks after declaring the last test as null and void,” caretaker KP Information Minister Barrister Feroze Jamal Shah Kakakhel told reporters on September 28, 2023. “KMU [Khyber Medical University] will itself conduct the test.”

The government has so far arrested more than 280 people – including two prime suspects – in the investigation into the cheating scandal.

The two suspects are said to be brothers and government employees. They have been involved in the paper leak in the past and arrested in 2017, sources said.

Kakakhel had shared that the parents of suspects should also be charged as the students cannot “arrange” such an amount for cheating or leaking. He called for the overhauling of the examination system.

“We need this awareness. We are facing a problem of brain drain. Our educated students due to corruption and this system is leaving Pakistan,” he had said and called for governance to stop it.