The Supreme Court of India agreed to hear a petition filed by six NEET-UG candidates alleging discrepancies between their attempted OMR sheets and the copies later displayed by the National Testing Agency (NTA), according to court proceedings. The petitioners, who secured scores ranging between 600 and 650 marks, approached the apex court after exhausting representation channels with the testing body.
Supreme Court Intervention on NEET OMR Discrepancies
A bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi agreed to examine the petition after hearing initial submissions from the petitioners’ counsel, according to legal reporting of the hearing. The counsel informed the court that the candidates had submitted multiple emails and visited the NTA office in person to flag the alleged score discrepancies, but received no administrative relief. According to the petitioners’ legal representation, an NTA official verbally directed them to approach the Supreme Court.
During the hearing, Chief Justice Surya Kant questioned the necessity for an urgent listing, to which the counsel responded that active NEET counseling cycles made immediate judicial review critical. Justice Joymalya Bagchi questioned whether the candidates had raised formal objections during the initial window when the OMR response sheets were uploaded for public review. The counsel maintained that the scanned OMR records matched expectations during the initial upload, and the discrepancies only appeared in subsequent copies released by the agency.
Context of OMR Verification Challenges
The petition arrives amid ongoing undergraduate medical admissions cycles managed by the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC). For instance, a comparable petition filed before the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court involved candidate allegations of OMR sheet tampering that were ultimately unproven upon judicial inspection.
The Supreme Court ordered the matter to be officially listed for further proceedings, setting up a formal legal examination of the digital records maintained by the testing agency.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What are the petitioners alleging in the NEET OMR case? According to court filings, six candidates with scores between 600 and 650 allege that the answers recorded on their physical OMR sheets differ from the digital copies later supplied by the NTA.
- Which judicial body is hearing the petition? A Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi agreed to hear the case.
- Why did the petitioners request an urgent hearing? Counsel for the students argued that urgent intervention was necessary because the NEET counseling and admission process was actively underway.
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