The Supreme Court is set to hear a petition about the incorrect questions in the Botany section of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2024 on November 4, Monday. This petition was filed on September 10, 2024, with the apex court and initially scheduled to be heard by a bench headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI).
As the current CJI DY Chandrachu's retirement is on November 10, 2024, there are apprehensions about the case hearing, shared a NEET-UG candidate on the condition of anonymity.
The case Nandita vs NTA (National Testing Agency, the exam conducting body), seeks a declaration of question numbers 104 and 149, of R4 Test Booklet, of NEET UG 2024 as incorrect, thereby, direction to consequentially grant 08 bonus marks and the 02 marks deducted for question numbers 104 and 149 of R4 of the Test Booklet to the petitioner, reported The Indian Kanoon.
It is learnt that the petitioner approached the apex court after the Delhi High Court dismissed the petition in August 2024.
The Court said, "That where the error is not self- evident, the Court cannot reappreciate, reanalyse or reassess for itself the correct answers to the disputed questions. Thus, when the facts of the present case are viewed in the background of the judicial precedents such as the decision of UPSC v. Rahul Singh (supra) and Wajda Tabasuum (supra), this Court is of the opinion that no case for interference by this Court is called for," The Indian Kanoon report stated.
Hinting at the slim chances of winning the case, the candidate said, "Most of the candidates expect one or two questions to be asked from out of the syllabus every year. And it is normal."
According to the candidate, initially, three questions were reported to be out of the syllabus — two from Botany and one from Physics. "While alleged incorrect questions from Botany were not taken seriously, then in July, NTA clarified about the Physics exam, saying that NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training) is not the only prescribed book," she recalled.
With the NEET UG results already out and the counselling underway, will this hearing change the fate of the candidates affected by the incorrect questions? Stay tuned for more.
