Another JEE candidate files plea in court over disparity in NTA records

Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main candidate Astha Shukla, a resident of Chhattisgarh, is apparently in a state of shock following the alleged error she found in the downloaded final score record on the National Testing Agency (NTA) portal. She moved the Delhi High Court contending that despite being eligible for the JEE (Advanced) examination, her application is not being accepted, with the disclaimer message "invalid application number" appearing on the online portal (jeeadv.nic.in), reported TNIE.

The petitioner told the court that she was registered under the application number 220310182367 on her admit card and she scored 99.92 in session 1 and 99.89 in session 2, thus her overall tally is well above the qualifying mark of 88.41 for the General category. "The petitioner is being wrongly precluded from applying for the JEE (Advanced) examination, despite having secured more than the cut-off score, due to a technical glitch. According to a report by TNIE, she appeared for both sessions of JEE (Main) with the application number that can be substantiated by the admit card and score card issued in the petitioner's name. The website later erroneously displayed the application number as 220310183276 for her", stated Kaustubh Shukla the lawyer of the petitioner.

However, TNIE also reported that the counsel for the NTA, Sanjay Khanna contended that the petitioner had applied under application number 220310183276 and her final score 68.92 is much less than the qualifying score for JEE (Advanced) examination, thus making her ineligible."The application number 220310182367 mentioned by the applicant in the score card and other documents pertains to another candidate Alka Gireesh. The application number can be correlated with the Aadhaar card number of the petitioner. The documents of the petitioner have no credibility," he argued before the court.

However, the petitioner's lawyer opposed and questioned the NTA's records, citing that Astha's application, since the inception of the examination process, has remained 220310182367. The single-judge bench of Justice Sanjeev Narula has allowed the petitioner's application to be registered for the JEE (Advanced) examination but stated that it would like to examine the electronic records and the response/answer sheets. The NTA's officers have been directed to remain present with electronic and physical records to assist the court in the case on Thursday (August 18), the day listed for the next hearing. 

The JEE (Advanced) exam for admission into 23 IITs across India is scheduled to be held on August 28.