NEET OMR issue: Delhi HC asks NTA to file a rejoinder, matter to be heard on January 8

The Delhi High Court has asked the National Testing Agency to file a rejoinder in the alleged NEET OMR discrepancy issue. It was hearing a petition filed by 14 students who alleged that OMR sheets were manipulated and tampered with.

The petitioners had said that the OMR sheets uploaded by the NTA were different from the OMR sheets on which they had marked their answers. They also said that they were awarded lesser marks than what they had expected. The petition had also prayed for scrutiny in the matter by a high power committee.

Following a previous order by the Supreme Court, the students and their parents were allowed to inspect their OMR sheets at the NTA office in New Delhi. However, all of them had alleged that the OMRs handed over to them weren't theirs. Some of them had shared photographs of the OMR sheets, which were allegedly torn and then joined back with cello tapes.

The petitioners were represented by Senior Advocate Gopal Shankarnarayan and Advocate Tanvi Dubey Advocate. Dubey said that the petitioners will be allowed relief for NEET admissions if their OMR sheets are found to have tampered. "The petitioners do not have an issue to wait for admission in the next academic year too. However, they want to know what has happened to their original OMR sheets," says Dubey. The matter will be now heard on January 8.