The Jamia Millia Islamia campus

New Delhi, June 26: Hundreds of aspiring lecturers couldn’t appear for the qualifying test after ending up at the “wrong” venue following an alleged admit card goof-up by Jamia Millia Islamia, the university in charge of conducting today’s NET exam in Delhi.

The admit cards, which were silent on the exact venue, mentioned Jamia as the test centre, though the university had arranged different places across the city for the countrywide exam held twice a year.

Many of the candidates who could not sit for the test had come from states like Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

Jamia sources said the university had given details of the test centres and roll numbers of candidates on its website. “The candidates should have checked the Jamia website to know their examination venues. Every admit card mentioned Jamia as the test centre since Jamia is conducting the test in Delhi,” spokesperson Simi Malhotra said.

But Rajendra Prasad Meena, who came from Sawai Madhopur in Rajasthan, said there was no instruction to check the Jamia website for the exam venue.

“The admit card mentioned the test centre as Jamia. So we came to Jamia directly. If the venue was different, we should have been instructed to check the Jamia website.”

The result was hundreds of candidates turned up at Jamia but failed to take the test.

Some of the affected candidates have filed an FIR in Jamia Nagar police station, alleging that they had been cheated by the university. One of them, Sharad Sharma, said they were planning to move court.

“I reached Jamia at 8.45am. I was told to immediately reach Vivekananda College in Vivek Vihar about 10km from Jamia. I had no option but to miss the test,” Sharma said.

The exam was scheduled to begin from 9.30.

Fellow sufferer Jaikishan was in shock. The young man had studied hard for the past six months for the National Eligibility Test, which candidates need to clear for getting a teaching job in colleges and universities or a junior research fellowship.

Although his admit card clearly mentioned Jamia as the test centre, university authorities said he needed to reach a different venue, 10km away. “I had little time to reach that venue. I couldn’t appear for the test. My hard work of the last six months has gone waste,” Jaikishan said.

The University Grants Commission conducts the test twice a year across the country. Jamia had been given the charge of holding the test for candidates appearing in Delhi. The university had made preparations to conduct the exam at 39 centres for 24,294 candidates. Of the 39 venues, 26 were outside the Jamia campus.