Inadvertent OMR Error Can't Cause Irreparable Prejudice: Rajasthan High Court Restores JET-2025 B.Tech Admission

The Rajasthan High Court has granted relief to the petitioner whose provisional admission to the B.Tech course was cancelled owing to his error in filling his attempted subjects in the OMR for Joint Entrance Test (JET) 2025, opining it to be an inadvertent mistake and a venial lapse on this part.

The bench of Justice Nupur Bhati observed that the petitioner ought to have been more vigilant during the examination, however, there was no deliberate misrepresentation on his part, and nullifying his admission for such an inadvertent error would cause him an irreparable prejudice.

The petitioner was a candidate of JET 2025 who had Physics, Chemistry and Biology as his main subjects in Class 12^th. He cleared JET 2025, and was issued a provision allotment letter. However, at the stage of admission, his allotment was cancelled owing to a mismatch between his subjects in class 12^th and the application form, and those filled in the OMR sheet for JET.

In the OMR sheet, he had inadvertently filled Agriculture instead of Physics. It was argued on his behalf that the error was purely bona fide. It was submitted that there was no concealment on his part regarding the subjects he had in class 12^th which were also an eligibility criteria for JET 2025.

However, owing to nervousness at the time of the examination, he circled the option of Agriculture instead of Physics. But he could not have attempted agriculture since he had never studied that subject.

On the contrary, the counsel for the respondents argued that the petitioner intentionally appeared for the subject Agriculture instead of Physics as the latter was a hard subject. Hence, the mistake could not be considered inadvertent.

Further, it was held that since there was a mismatch in his application form and the OMR, he was liable to be disqualified as per the guidelines. The plea of inadvertence could not be accepted in matters of competitive examinations since strict adherence to norms was essential to maintain fairness, transparency and parity.

After hearing the contentions and perusing all material on record, the Court rejected the respondents' argument that the petitioner knowingly attempted Agriculture instead of Physics. It was held that no candidate who lacked prior exposure to a subject would rationally opt to answer it over physics, only because of the anticipated difficulty level of physics.

“The documents rather indicate an inadvertent error whereby the petitioner marked the column for the subject Agriculture while answering questions for the subject Physics. Admittedly, the petitioner ought to have been more vigilant during the examination, however, no deliberate misrepresentation or suppression of facts is discernible.”

It was held that in a fiercely competitive exam, in which the petitioner performed so well, rejecting his admission based on such inadvertent error would cause him irreparable prejudice.

Accordingly, the petition was allowed, and the respondents were directed to grant him admission based on his JET rank, treating the error in OMR as a mere inadvertence.

Title: Rohit Godara v State of Rajasthan & Ors.

Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Raj) 27

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