NTA to enable DigiLocker access for previous years' NEET scorecards

A DigiLocker-based mechanism for retrieving previous years' NEET scorecards is in the final stages of development, the National Testing Agency (NTA) has informed the Central Information Commission (CIC), a move that could mean students no longer have to worry about losing access to their scorecards. The development emerged during the hearing of an RTI appeal filed by a National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET)-UG 2020 candidate who sought a certified copy of her scorecard and confirmation of her qualification status for submission to the National Board of Examinations (NBE) for Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) eligibility verification.

The NTA told the commission that it had reviewed the issue and was "in the process of devising a mechanism with Digilocker to enable retrieval of scorecards of previous years by the candidates so that the same can be provided to the candidates after due authentication". The agency added that the initiative was "attaining to reach the final stage and is likely to be completed at the earliest".

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In the present case, however, the agency said it could not provide the appellant's NEET-UG 2020 scorecard as records of the examination are preserved only for 90 days from the declaration of results under Clause 15.6 of the Information Bulletin. It told the commission that the records had already been weeded out before the RTI application was filed. The appellant had argued that her qualification status was a permanent record of the NTA and that she required the documents for FMGE eligibility verification.

She contended that denying the information violated the record-maintenance obligations of public authorities under the RTI Act. Information Commissioner Sudha Rani Relangi, however, accepted the NTA's stand, observing that "the CPIO can only provide such information as is held in the office record, and as a matter of fact, he is not obligated to create information under the mandate of the RTI Act."