NullPointerException when passing jsp_precompile query parameter

Issue

We have a test case which compiles all the JSPs. We do this by hitting all the JSPs and passing jsp_precompile in query string.

org.apache.jasper.JasperException: Unable to compile class for JSP
    at org.apache.jasper.JspCompilationContext.compile(JspCompilationContext.java:619)
    at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServletWrapper.service(JspServletWrapper.java:312)
    at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.serviceJspFile(JspServlet.java:326)
    at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.service(JspServlet.java:253)
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:847)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:329)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:248)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.invoke(ApplicationDispatcher.java:840)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.doInclude(ApplicationDispatcher.java:720)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.include(ApplicationDispatcher.java:657)
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:734)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:329)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:248)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:280)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:248)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:275)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:161)
    at org.jboss.as.web.security.SecurityContextAssociationValve.invoke(SecurityContextAssociationValve.java:153)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:155)
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:102)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:109)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:368)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.process(Http11Processor.java:877)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol$Http11ConnectionHandler.process(Http11Protocol.java:679)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.JIoEndpoint$Worker.run(JIoEndpoint.java:931)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:722)
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
    at org.apache.jasper.compiler.Validator$ValidateVisitor.<init>(Validator.java:510)
    at org.apache.jasper.compiler.Validator.validateExDirectives(Validator.java:1797)
    at org.apache.jasper.compiler.Compiler.generateJava(Compiler.java:211)
    at org.apache.jasper.compiler.Compiler.compile(Compiler.java:360)
    at org.apache.jasper.compiler.Compiler.compile(Compiler.java:340)
    at org.apache.jasper.compiler.Compiler.compile(Compiler.java:327)
    at org.apache.jasper.JspCompilationContext.compile(JspCompilationContext.java:607)
    ... 79 more