NEET UG 2024 | Rajasthan HC Issues Notice To NTA, UOI On Candidate's Plea For Compensatory Marks Due To OMR Sheet Delay

The Rajasthan High Court today issued a notice to the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the Union of India (UOI) in response to a plea from a NEET UG 2024 candidate who moved the Court seeking compensatory marks over the loss of time due to a delay in allotment of the OMR sheet during the examination.

In her petition, 19-year-old Tanuja Yadav states that the respondent/Testing agency failed to award compensatory marks to her in lieu of a delay in allotting OMR Sheets, a fault which is totally attributable to the testing agency.

Claiming that she got the OMR sheet with a 25-minute delay, the petitioner has prayed that the NTA be directed to award her 92 marks for the loss of time. In this regard, the petitioner has relied upon the Supreme Court's 2018 verdict in the case of Disha Panchal and Ors. Vs. Union of India and Ors.

In her petition, the petitioner states that the OMR Sheet was allotted to her at 2:25 PM, whereas, as per the official time, the examination was scheduled to commence w.e.f. 2.00 PM.

She has further added that she was hopeful for allotment of extra time. However, the officials of the centre where she was taking the exam directed all the candidates to pen down at 5.20/5.25 P.M. Resultantly, she was deprived of 25 minutes for attempting the NEET (UG) Examination, 2024.

Importantly, the petitioner, who scored 528 Marks out of 720, has also expressed doubts about the integrity of the examination of NEET (UG) 2024 "because of the various reports published by the leading news papers, with regard to the illegalities committed in the examination process"

Hearing the petition today, a bench of Justice Ashok Kumar Jain asked the NTA and the Union of India to file their responses by July 10. Advocate Ram Pratap Saini appeared for the petitioner.

The Court posted the matter for July 10 while noting that the issue concerning irregularities in the NEET-UG 2024 exam is currently under consideration by the Supreme Court, which is scheduled to hear the case on July 8. 

It may be noted that the Central Govt has entrusted the investigation of alleged irregularities in the NEET (UG) Examination 2024 to the CBI.

In an official press release, the Ministry of Education stated that “certain cases of alleged irregularities/cheating/impersonation have been reported” as regards the NEET UG exam held on May 5.

The Supreme Court has already issued notice on several petitions seeking CBI investigation into the alleged malpractices in NEET UG 2024. Those petitions, which also seek a re-exam after cancelling the exam and results, are listed on July 8.

Last week, the Supreme Court stayed proceedings in petitions filed in Rajasthan, Calcutta, and Bombay High Courts regarding the alleged paper leak in the NEET-UG 2024 exam held on May 5 this year.