Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Nov.12: The Supreme Court on Friday overturned a recent Bombay High Court ruling ordering the National Testing Agency to organise a new exam for two NEET UG aspirants due to an invigilator error that resulted in the test booklets and OMR sheets being mixed up.
While the Court sympathised with the two students’ situation, Justices L Nageswara Rao and BR Gavai emphasised that ordering a re-test for the two students was difficult.
“We feel sorry for the students and commiserate with them, but we cannot hold a re-examination,” the panel remarked, expressing sorrow for the medical aspirants who were affected by this judgement.
In its order, the bench noted that the invigilator had admitted to making a mistake. The court also found merit in the students’ counsel’s claim that they had wasted valuable time as a result of the mix-up. The panel went on to say that it understood the mental anguish that young pupils felt while completing an exam in such a setting.
The two students’ lawyer, Sudhanshu Choudhuri, claimed that they were repeaters who came from a low-income family. He read to the court the invigilator’s apology, which admitted the mistake.
“..the invigilators tender apology for mistake in distributing booklets to 6 students, test booklets fell down and got mixed with wrong OMR sheets, “we were doing duty for the first time, we assure this happened in hurry and not a deliberate mistake”-they said”, the counsel submitted.
He said that the two pupils have good academic records and that they should not be punished for answering the remaining questions under duress.
The bench noted that the two students’ grades were computed in accordance with the NTA’s proposal to the High Court that the scores be computed without regard to the test booklet code and OMR sheet being different.
“There is no dispute that there was a mix-up in the distribution of the answer sheets and the text booklets where the code is different. Realizing that the wrong answer given to a question would attract negative marks and relying on the instruction given to candidates, respondents 1 and 2 pointed out to the invigilator that the correct answer sheet with the proper code has to be given to them.”
The apex court stated that granting the direction to hold re-examinations for individual cases and students would set a bad precedent for the future. If allowed, said Justice Rao, who was hearing the case today, students would make it a habit to go to court for re-examinations even for small issues in the future.
“Every year, students would come forward and seek a re-examination for one mistake or another,” Justice Rao said. As a result, it was critical for the court not to intervene in the case, especially because the results had already been announced.
On November 1, the National Eligibility Cumulative Entrance Test (NEET) results were released. In the NEET 2021 results, three candidates received the highest All India Rank (AIR). When preparing the merit list this year, the NTA withdrew the option of providing preference to a candidate who is older in age.
