NEET-UG : Kerala High Court Dismisses Candidate's Plea Alleging OMR Sheet Manipulation

The Kerala High Court recently dismissed a plea filed by a NEET-UG 2021 candidate who alleged that the OMR sheet attached to her application number had been manipulated and sought an investigation into the same. 

After perusing the report submitted by the Committee constituted by the National Testing Agency (NTA),  Justice N. Nagaresh held: 

"The Committee has exhaustively considered the allegations made by the petitioner. There is no material to conclude that any manipulations were made in the OMR sheet of the petitioner. No other complaints were received from other students who appeared for the examination from the same room. Committee found that manipulations in the OMR sheet was extremely unlikely." 

The Judge passed the order in a plea filed by a candidate in the NEET-UG 2021 exam, conducted on September 12, seeking a CBI probe into the alleged manipulation of her OMR sheet.

The petitioner had alleged that in the OMR sheet, her signature was seen to be manipulated and the names of her mother and father were wrong. She further contended that the markings on the OMR sheet were not hers. It was added that her roll number in the numerical section did not tally with the bubbled portion.

She also raised grave suspicions over the left-hand thumb impression seen in the OMR sheet. Based on these allegations, the Court had ordered a probe by NTA.

By an interim order, the petitioner was permitted to personally verify the original OMR sheet kept with NTA. However, even after perusal of the same, she reiterated her allegations. 

Subsequently, a Committee was constituted by NTA under the chairmanship of the Joint Director with three eminent professors from IIT to conduct an investigation into the alleged incident. 

Upon completion of the probe, the Committee produced a report before the Court on 15.11.2021 which exhaustively dealt with every allegation made by the petitioner. 

The Court found no reason to disbelieve the conclusions of the committee made in its comprehensive report. The writ petition was accordingly dismissed.

Advocate Rajit appeared for the petitioner in the matter while Advocate S Nirmal appeared for NTA. 

Case Title: Rithu Sibi v. Union of India & Ors.

Click Here To Read/Download The Order