Supreme Court Issues Notice On Petition Alleging Discrepancies In NEET-PG 2021 Scores

The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice on a petition alleging serious instances of discrepancies in the scores for NEET-PG 2021 and to further bring to the notice of the Court that the number of attempted questions reflected at the end of the paper on the computer screen is not same to the marks reflected in the scorecard. The petition was listed before the bench of Justices D. Y. Chandrachud and A. S. Bopanna. Advocate Charu Mathur appeared for the petitioners.The present Petition is filed by the doctors who are possessing a recognised degree of MBBS awarded by a university or institute in India and registered with the State Medical Council. They have also obtained provisional/permanent registration. The Petitioners have appeared in NEET-PG 2021, which was conducted on 11.09.2021 and the results of which were announced on 28.09.2021. It is submitted that the Petitioners also have a difference in expected and actual score and that National Board of Examination, Respondent No. 1, acted in an arbitrary manner while not disclosing the summary of questions attempted/not attempted in NEET-PG 2021."It is most humbly submitted that in absence of the said record, it is impossible for the candidates to have any record, whatsoever for the number of attempted and not attempted questions. It is most humbly submitted that the candidates after the disclosure of their scores, in absence of any record of the exam are left in a miserable and a helpless state. Act of Respondent No. 1 by not releasing the answer key and the question paper for NEET PG 2021 is manifestly arbitrary. The Petitioners and similarly placed candidates have also challenged arbitrary action on part of Respondent No. 1 in not providing the candidates with the option of revaluation or rechecking, in case of discrepancy in their scores", avers the plea.It is submitted that there is no parameter with the candidates to compare the actual answer filled by them. The score card only reflects the total score, total correct responses and total incorrect responses; that not providing details of the total attempted questions after the examination and depriving the candidates with the access to their answer sheets and question papers is sheer violation of their fundamental and legitimate right protected under the Right to Information Act; and that The NEET-PG candidates are placed at a heightened disadvantage because of the fact that they do not have access to any direct documentary evidence in respect of the events that transpired during the exam.It is urged that the Clause 9.7 and Clause 10.4 of the NEET-PG Information Bulletin is unconstitutional and liable to be set aside at the outset- "It is most humbly submitted that clause 9.7 of the NEET-PG Information Bulletin is unconstitutional and deprives the Respondent of their fundamental right to know. Clause 9.7 of the Information bulletin is provided hereunder for the ready reference of this Hon'ble Court: '9.7. NEET-PG is a proprietary examination and is conducted only by NBE. The contents of this exam are confidential, proprietary and are owned by NBE. NBE explicitly prohibits the candidate, from reproducing, transmitting or publishing any or some contents of this exam, in whole or in part, in any form or by any means verbal or written, electronic or mechanical for any purpose whatsoever. NBE shall not entertain any request for sharing any content of the examination including answer keys/answer sheets'...Further, as per Clause 10.4 of the NEET-PG Information Bulletin, 2021, the Respondent No. 1 is depriving the candidates of revaluation/retotalling/rechecking of responses filled by them. The said act is in violation of the fundamental right of the candidates and also against the principle of natural justice"The Petitioners in the present Writ Petition have inter alia sought issuance of an appropriate writ, order or direction to the Respondents, directing as under:a. to direct the Respondent No. 1 to provide the Petitioners and similarly placed candidates with the details of the correct and incorrect questions.b. to direct the Respondent No. 1 to release the question paper and answer key of the Petitioners and similarly placed candidates for NEET-PG 2021 candidates;c. to direct the Respondent No. 1 to allow the Petitioners and similarly placed candidates, the option of revaluation/rechecking in case of discrepancy in their scores;d. to declare the Clause 9.7 and 10.4 of the NEET-PG Information Bulletin, 2021 as unconstitutional;e. to direct the Respondent No. 1 to allow the candidates with an option to raise challenge in the answer key in case of disputed questions.f. to direct the Respondent No. 1 to provide answer key question paper and the option of revaluation to the candidates of NEET-PG for the present as well the future years, in order to ensure transparency in the evaluation process.The Court has tagged the matter along with a similar petition.Case Title: Ayush Patel & Ors. v. National Board Of...

Supreme Court Issues Notice On Petition Alleging Discrepancies In NEET-PG 2021 Scores

Mehal Jain

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