Tushar Mehta, the Solicitor General, informed the Delhi High Court on Wednesday, 19th August that the answer sheets (OMR sheets) for the re-test of NEET UG were not tampered with in any way. Tushar Mehta was responding to a PIL filed by two students stating that there were irregularities in the test. According to reports, Mehta argued that "loose kind of drafting and arguments" claiming large scale tampering with the re-test should not be entertained as that would lead to a narrative.
"There is no tampering in any OMR sheet. None of this has happened. Don't sensationalise," he informed the Bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia. The legal challenge was filed by two candidates for NEET UG who sought several reliefs including granting of extra marks for themselves and "similarly affected candidates" due to dropped questions and dismantling of the National Testing Agency (NTA).
One of the petitioners stated that her OMR sheet was tampered with. The PIL requested that an expert committee be appointed to review the issues related to exam-related irregularities. Mehta argued that the complaint of the petitioners appeared to be a discrepancy between her rough work on the question paper and the options she selected on the OMR sheet, there was no "manipulation."
"They say there is tampering with the OMR sheet. Who will tamper?" Mehta asked.
The counsel representing the students stated that while thousands of people were affected by issues such as missing marks on dropped questions and tampering with the OMR sheet, only two of the candidates approached the court because other students' parents did not give their permission. The Delhi High Court rejected the Public Interest Litigation, PIL, as it could not entertain the relief being sought through a PIL. The court said that it would entertain these complaints only if the affected students approached it individually and not as a PIL.
"We find that there is a mixture of prayers seeking relief for the petitioner and other candidates. Writ petition with such a mixture of prayers cannot be entertained," ruled the court. The writ petition has been rejected as withdrawn. However, it has permitted a student to file a fresh writ petition in future if he so desires in order to seek change in the management of national level exams like NEET.
