[NEET-UG 2022] Unless Candidate Shows Answers Are Patently Wrong, Courts Cannot Enter Into Academic Field: Delhi High Court

Dismissing a plea challenging the final answer key for one of the sets of NEET(UG) Examination 2022, the Delhi High Court has observed that courts must exercise great restraint and should be reluctant in entertaining a plea challenging the correctness of an answer key.

The exam was conducted on July 17 and the answer key was uploaded on the website of National Testing Agency (NTA) through a press release dated 7th September.

Justice Chandra Dhari Singh said that there is a strong burden placed on the candidates to not only demonstrate that the key answer is incorrect but also that there is a glaring mistake which is totally apparent on its face.

The court made the observation while dismissing the plea filed by a candidate, Sagar Srivastava, who was aggrieved by non-consideration of his challenge to the provisional answer key by the authorities.

"At the cost of re-iteration, it can be said that the law is black and white qua the present subject-matter that the Constitutional Courts must exercise great restraint and should be reluctant to entertain a plea challenging the correctness of the key answers," said the bench.

It was the petitioner's case that the NTA failed to appreciate that he relied on the contents of the NCERT book of Biology of class XI and XII, claiming that the book was the guiding base for preparing for the said examination. He also submitted that after going through the contents of the book, it was apparent that answers were incorrect.

On the other hand, NTA submitted that objections are considered and examined exhaustively by the subject experts.

Rejecting the plea, Justice Singh observed that the authorities had followed an elaborative process to consider the objections raised by the candidates and that the objections were duly considered by the Subject Experts before being finalised.

"This Hon'ble court cannot sit as an appellate authority over the wisdom and expertise of the experts. Courts cannot be expected to usurp the powers of experts in academic matters. Unless the candidate demonstrates that the key answers are patently wrong on the face of it, the courts cannot enter into the academic field," the court said.

Title: SAGAR SRIVASTAVA v. UNION OF INDIA & ANR.

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Del) 970

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