No headway in NEET UG 2022 OMR sheet tampering cases worries parents

Amidst the ongoing NEET UG Round - 1 Counselling for the current academic year, a few candidates who appeared for the exam are still waiting on court cases. These students allege that their NEET OMR sheets were tampered with and their marks were reduced. Two such cases are being heard at the Delhi High Court.

"The next hearing for one of the cases is scheduled for November 9 and the other case will be heard on November 17," said Advocate Ashutosh Mishra, who is appearing on behalf of the two petitioners, who wish to remain anonymous. One of the cases was filed on September 26, while the other was filed later on October 17.

"The last hearing for both cases took place on October 17," Advocate Mishra said, adding that there is no headway in the cases. Even though a month has passed since the first case was filed and the High Court awaits the National Testing Agency's (NTA, the body which conducts the NEET exams) response to proceed, the body has not yet submitted a reply, the lawyer stated.

Meanwhile, one of the candidates' father said, "My daughter has participated in the first round of counselling, but it is of no use. Her marks were reduced due to the tampering. And the NTA is not ready to listen to or respond to our complaints. We are hoping for its response soon and also hope to get justice from the High Court."

The parent additionally stated that similar cases were pending in the courts of Madhya Pradesh and Chennai as well. Dr Vivek Pandey, an RTI and health activist confirms this fact. He shared that OMR sheet tampering cases in NEET exams emerge every year. "While many of these cases are fake, there are genuine ones as well," he said.

"It is not very difficult to tamper the OMR sheets," Dr Vivek adds. "Every year, the NTA receives several complaints, but hasn't acted on them yet. I have approached the body many times with a solution, but they have not responded or implemented it yet," he said.

According to Dr Vivek, the best solution to tackle sheet tampering is for the NTA to provide a carbon copy of the answer sheet for the students to take home. "A carbon copy can be attached to the back of the original answer sheet and after submitting the sheet, the candidate can bring the copy home. A similar process is followed in the COMED-K (Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka) exam every year," he explained.