NEET UG 2021: SC dismisses petition alleging tampering of answer sheets

On Monday, the Supreme Court of India has dismissed a writ petition filed by a group of six students alleging that their NEET UG 2021 Answer sheets have been tampered with and manipulated by the NTA. 

Arguments made by NTA

The Supreme Court bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna has taken record of the submission of the NTA which stated that after the students raised their grievances they were called to the NTA office and shown their original answer sheets and that they java accepted that it was their answer sheet. The SC bench further noted that the original answer sheets bore the signature of the students and the invigilators and hence it cannot be said that the NTA has tampered or manipulated the marks in any way. 

The SC bench while dismissing the petitions stated that based on first impressions it cannot be suggested that there was tampering of any kind in the back office of the NTA. The NEET-UG 2021 exams were attempted by over 15 lakh students out of which six have come to court. Five among the said six have verified their OMR sheets. 

The Supreme Court considered that arguments by Advocate Rupesh Kumar appearing for the NTA which stated that there is only one answer sheet per candidate which is an OMR sheet and is available on the server. As per the procedure followed, a copy of the answer sheet is sent to all the candidates via email including the six students who have filed the petition stating that they have not received it. 

Petitioner Arguments

In the hearing, the SC bench questioned the students as to why the NTA would want to manipulate the results when they are ready to provide the original mark sheets. Senior Advocate Manoj Swarup appearing for the students stated that there was a glass partition and the students were made to see the original sheets from the other side without even touching it. The SC bench however refused to agree with the argument and stated that it was a little far-fetched and dismissed the petition.

Swarup had also stated that the NTA has admitted that the entire database of the exams was transferred to a third agency and hence there was a possibility of tampering. The students have claimed that there was a huge difference of marks calculated according to the NEET UG 2021 Answer key published by the NTA and the final results declared on November 1, 2021. 

Also Read: IBSAT Admission 2021: Candidates with Valid CAT, GMAT, NMAT and XAT Scores can Participate, Get Details Here