NEET: Bombay High Court allows two students to rewrite the exam, says students shall not suffer for mistakes made by NTA

Two medical aspirants will get to write the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) afresh as the Bombay High Court has directed the National Testing Agency (NTA) to conduct the re-exam as they had been given question papers and answer sheets with incorrect serial numbers during the recently held NEET 2021.

The order was passed by the court on October 20 after the two aggrieved students filed a petition through Advocate Pooja Thorat. It also directed the testing agency to declare the concerned students' results within two weeks. The petitioners told the court that all NEET candidates are given a question paper and an answer booklet bearing the same code and the same seven-digit serial number. They said that it was only because of a mix-up by invigilators that some students, including the petitioners, received question papers and answer booklets bearing different codes and serial numbers.

Advocate Thorat told a bench of Justices RD Dhanuka and Abhay Ahuja that though the petitioners immediately pointed out the mix-up, the invigilators threatened to report them for "causing a disturbance in the examination hall and committing unfair practice." Advocate Rui Rodrigues, who appeared for the NTA, said it was "not possible" for the exam authority to allow the petitioners to reappear for the exam.

The judges, however, held that the petitioners "shall not suffer because of the mistake on the part of the respondents." They directed the NTA to hold a "fresh examination for the two petitioners for the academic year 2021-22."