NEET Exam Row: SC Seeks NTA’s Reply on OMR Sheet Calculation Discrepancy

The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notice to the National Testing Agency (NTA) on a petition alleging “inconsistent” calculation of marks on the OMR sheets used for the NEET-UG 2024 exam.

A vacation bench comprising Justices Manoj Misra and SVN Bhatti issued a notice, requesting the NTA to respond by July 8, the date of the next hearing.

The petition, filed by the learning app Xylem Learning, also raised concerns about the time limit for raising grievances concerning the OMR sheets. The bench asked, “Let us know if there is a timeline to provide the OMR sheets. As of now, we will tag it. Let NTA seek instructions on this.”

Questioning Coaching Center Roles

The vacation bench questioned the appropriateness of a coaching center filing a petition on the matter, stating that coaching centers have “no role to play.”

The bench observed, “This is a (Article) 32 petition by the instance of a coaching center. What Fundamental right of yours is violated? This is one of the reasons why we see this role played by the coaching centers and bagpipers. They have hardly any role to play. Their obligation and duty… if they have discharged their service, that is the end of the matter. They have not undertaken to see that everything that the Centre is supposed to do will be taken care of by them.”

In response, Senior Advocate R Basant argued that the petitioners also included students who were supposed to receive the OMR sheets. He stated that their interim prayer is to obtain the OMR sheets, as some students have yet to receive them.

NEET UG Controversy

A bunch of petitions have been filed in the apex court seeking directives to recall the NEET-UG 2024 results and to conduct the examination afresh, alleging paper leakage and malpractices in the test held on May 5. The apex court has already refused to stay the counselling process for NEET-UG 2024.

The NEET-UG examination, conducted by the NTA, is the pathway for admissions into MBBS, BDS, AYUSH, and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country.

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