The Supreme Court on Wednesday disposed of a petition that sought the quashing of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test 2020 and the conduction of the exam again for all the candidates. A bench that consisted of Justices Ashok Bhushan, Subhash Reddy and M R Shah, however, allowed the petitioners to represent the issue before the National Testing Agency with regard to their grievance.
The petitioners, who are five NEET aspirants, were represented by Senior Advocate and former Union Minister Salman Khurshid. The prayer was sought stating that the NTA violated the lockdown guidelines laid down by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The petition stated that the COVID protocols and SOPs weren't properly followed. It also said that the OMR sheets of certain candidates were mismatched, causing a lot of hue and cry.
Interestingly, the petition also mentions cases of students who missed the examination after being stuck in flood-affected areas or because they did not have the means to travel long distances. "In an ideal situation, transportation issues would be negligible and each one was left to fend for themselves. However, local varying conditions in the times of COVID have magnified the said issues providing undue advantage to some over others. Merit evaluation conducted amidst such glaring disparities is void and liable to be set aside," reads the petition. Even though the NTA conducted a phase II of NEET, it was only for COVID positive students or students who missed the exam after being stuck in containment zones.
