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'No Tampering At NTA Office' : Supreme Court Dismisses Plea Alleging Discrepancies In NEET-UG Scores

Mehal Jain

10 Jan 2022 9:08 AM GMT

    • No Tampering At NTA Office : Supreme Court Dismisses Plea Alleging Discrepancies In NEET-UG Scores

    The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a writ petition filed by 6 students alleging tampering of their NEET-UG OMR scorecards by the National Testing Agency. The petitioners had approached the Court alleging that there was a huge variance in their marks computed on the basis of the answer keys and the final results.A bench comprising Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice AS Bopanna dismissed the...

    The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a writ petition filed by 6 students alleging tampering of their NEET-UG OMR scorecards by the National Testing Agency. The petitioners had approached the Court alleging that there was a huge variance in their marks computed on the basis of the answer keys and the final results.

    A bench comprising Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice AS Bopanna dismissed the writ petition noting that the NTA had shown the OMR sheets to the candidates. The NTA's counsel Rupesh Kumar told the bench that the candidates were invited to the office of the NTA and were allowed to inspect the OMR sheets; the scanned copies of the OMR were sent to the email ids of the candidates as well. The OMR answer sheet of the petitioners is stated to have their original writing along with their and invigilator's sign, the Court noted.

    The bench dismissed the petition saying "it cannot prima facie be suggested that there was any act of tampering or manipulation in the back office of NTA".

    The bench also noted that out of 15.44 lakh candidates who appeared for the NEET-UG exam, only 6 have raised this grievance.

    Senior Advocate Manoj Swarup, who appeared for the petitioners, submitted that they were not allowed to physically touch the OMR sheets as there was a glass wall in between.

    "OMR sheet can only be verified by touching", the senior counsel submitted.

    "This is quite far fetched...No Mr Swarup, they showed you the original", Justice Chandrachud remarked. It was the contention of the petitioners' counsel that the entire database relating to the exam was transferred to an outside agency, and there was likelihood of tinkering. However, the NTA said that the data was hosted in the servers of NIC.

    Detailed Courtroom exchange

    At the outset, Justice Chandrachud indicated to Mr. Swarup, "They have filed a response and they say that they have got the originals with them. A very comprehensive reply has been filed. The answers are all circled in ink, the originals are signed by the petitioners and therefore there was no question of uploading two different OMR sheets first in October and then in November 2021. They say that the screenshots produced by you are fabricated."
    Mr.Swarup responded, "That is what they say. I say their sheet is not genuine, they say mine is not genuine."
    "The NTA is an independent testing agency. Why would they doctor your results?", asked Justice Chandrachud.
    "They themselves say that before the results were declared, the entire database was transferred to an outside agency. So there can be likelihood of tinkering...besides, for one petitioner, the circles on the OMR sheets are such as if made by a machine. For another, the circles have more of a human angle, they are not perfect. When I am sitting in an exam hall and darkening the circles, it will be that some circles are more and some are less...", urged Mr. Swarup.
    "Moreover, there is an OMR sheet and there is a butter-paper behind it. Each candidate has to return both. But the original signature is at the foot of the page only", he continued.
    "So if we ask them to produce the originals and if the originals bear the signatures, that will be the end of the matter", Justice Chandrachud had ventured.
    In his turn, Mr. Kumar told the bench that emails of the scanned versions of the OMR sheets were sent to the candidates by the NIC on behalf of the NEET, with blind copies of the same marked to the NTA. "We sought a specific clarification from the NIC if any such tinkering or manipulation is possible", he advanced, drawing the bench's attention to the email response of the NIC to submit that none of the OMR sheets have been replaced or altered and that the same are on the server.
    "We have also called upon the petitioners to verify their original OMR sheets. The petitioners cannot now disprove that these are their own. 5 of the petitioners came with their parents and have verified that these are the original OMRs", Mr. Kumar further told the bench.
    Mr. Swarup interjected to advance, "There was a glass wall in between when we were in the office. OMR sheets can be verified only by touching..."
    "That seems far-fetched...This is not a case of wrong-doing", remarked Justice Chandrachud.

    Details Of The Petition

    It had been argued that there was a huge difference in the marks which the petitioners had calculated based on the answer keys published by the NTA and the final marks declared by them on November 1, 2021.

    One of the petitioners allege that his score as per the answer key was 584 but the final result showed 164. According to another petitioner, his score based on the answer key was 675 but the final result showed 52 marks. Another petitioner's final score was zero, though his estimate as per the answer key was 545 marks.

    "It appears that to be massive rigging in the screening of the OMR sheet soon after the publication of the answer keys and consequent uploading of OMR sheet for self assessment and before the actual declaration of result and score card on NTA's website which has resulted in glaring discrepancy in the marks obtained by the petitioners," the petition states.

    Referring to the comparative tabulation of marks, the petitioners have contended that it is manifestly evident that there has been a huge margin in the scores obtained by them.

    It has further been averred that something is utterly wrong on NTA's part which needs to be addressed by instituting investigations against the authority.

    Petitioners in their petition have referred to the news for leaking the question paper and criminal conspiracy to sabotage the fair process of exam in regards to which several FIR's were registered at different places in India.

    The sum and substance of the initial investigation in these FIR's had established rampant use of unscrupulous means and unfair practices to manipulate the results for benefiting the rich and non merit candidates, the petitioners have stated.

    In light of this background it has been stated in the petition that,

    "There are malpractices and corrupt practices which are undergoing on at the levels which the innocent, deserving and meritorious petitioners cannot imagine which has resulted in arbitrariness and rejection of meritorious candidates and as such is violative of their rights under Article 14 of the Constitution of India."

    The petition was filed through Advocate on Record Rajan Kumar Singh and drafted by Advocate Waseem Akhtar Khan.

    Case Title: Prabhnoor Singh v NTA| WP(C) 1286/2021

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    NEETNational Testing Agency#Justice DY ChandrachudJustices AS Bopanna
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