Published: 30th November 2021
SC says expert opinion 'word of Jesus Christ'; dismisses students' plea against translation error in NEET UG
The petition was filed by 22 students who pointed out that a translation error from English to Hindi in a Physics question was impacting their marks
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Pic: Edex Live
The Supreme Court has dismissed a petition filed by a group of students against discrepancies in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) Undergraduate paper. This was with regards to the translation of a Physics question from English to Hindi. The Supreme Court had earlier asked the National Testing Agency to get the question reviewed by a panel of experts.
In court today, Solicitor General of India, Tushar Mehta, representing the NTA, confirmed that the experts said the error in translation, which left out the words 'amplitude of the current', would not in any way change the final answer. "We had constituted a committee of three experts, one from IIT Guwahati, one from IIT Delhi and another expert. All three have concurred that whether we take English or Hindi, the answer remains the same," said the SG.
Advocate Archana Pathak Dave, representing the students contended before the bench that the court has to look at the physics textbook, which is considered the Bible for students, before disposing of their petition. The bench remark, also comprising Justices AS Bopanna and Vikram Nath, said the book may be the Bible for students, but the opinion given by the professors is like the opinion of Jesus Christ. "We have to go by the opinion", said the bench.
The bench, headed by Justice DY Chandrachud said that the court cannot interfere in a matter where the experts have spoken, and thus, the plea, which was filed by 22 students, was dismissed. In an earlier hearing on November 25, Advocate Pathak told the court that the answer changes according to the Hindi question. She had also added that out of the 15 lakh students who appeared for the NEET exam, 2.5 lakh students wrote the paper in Hindi. The petitioners had also called for the Supreme Court to declare the exam unconstitutional.
