Read Instructions Carefully: No HC Relief To Student Who Used Whitener To Correct NTSE Answers [Read Order]

The Bombay High Court has refused to grant relief to a student who applied whitener in order to correct some answers while appearing for the National Talent Search Examination (NTSE).

The petitioner student, Pratyush Priyadarshi, filed a writ petition after missing by one mark in cut-off in order to qualify for the exam held in November 2016.

Priyadarshi filed an application asking for a copy of his answer sheets after the result was declared this March 3.

It was Priyadarshi’s contention that he had secured 119 marks, which is higher than the cut-off of 115, but he scored 114.

In other words, Priyadarshi contended that he had answered 80 questions correctly, however, five of these questions were rectified by him by using a whitener and, thus, no marks were given for these answers. He sought these five questions to be verified manually.

NCERT, which conducts NTSE, was represented by advocate BB Sharma.

He submitted that it was clearly stated that answers, which are once recorded, cannot be cancelled.

Noting that “there is much substance” in this argument, the bench said: “In our view, the petitioner, having scratched the response which was given by him and rectified his answer, is not entitled to get any marks for answering the said questions. The contentions of the petitioner, therefore, cannot be accepted. There is no substance in the submissions made by learned Counsel for petitioner. There is no provision of manually checking the answer sheets. If such a request is granted, then, thousands of people will again apply on that ground.”

Read the Order here.