NEET UG 2021: SC hearing on female PwD candidate’s plea seeking direction for re-exam today

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court is hearing today a petition filed by a female NEET aspirant who sought directions for re-exam since she is entitled to an extra hour to complete her paper as per rules.

The Supreme Court said the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) examination brochure must contain a specific segment for candidates with disabilities to show what are the benefits available to them. It said that the National Testing Agency (NTA) must also train their invigilators who are at the ground level in examination centres as to how they should deal with students with disabilities.

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A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna were hearing a plea of a female student suffering from dysgraphia whose grievance was that she was not allowed an additional one-hour for attempting the questions and her answer sheet was snatched by the invigilator.

She sought re-examination or to be adequately compensated with grace marks or no negative marking in case of wrong answers.

Advocate Rupesh Kumar, appearing for NTA said that it only conducts the examination and declares the results and does not have much control at the ground level.

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He added that the student had in between the examination told that she needs an extra one hour due to which the invigilator at the Centre could not cross-check the required provision. “Around 16 lakh students have taken the examination and therefore it is difficult to correct the results for one student as the entire merit list will have to be changed. It may also be not appropriate for other students, who may be superseded if she is awarded grace marks,” he said.

“We have conducted webinars for the invigilators but still at the ground level, the situation is sometimes unmanageable,” he said, adding that the result for the examination has been declared. Kumar said that it is difficult to conduct the re-examination for one candidate or award her grace marks as the entire merit list will have to be changed after that.

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The top court agreed that given 16 lakh students taking the examination it would not be appropriate to order re-exam for one student.

Advocate Rushabh Vidyarthi, appearing for the student, said that she has secured more than 90 per cent marks in her class 10 and 12 examinations, and with one stroke of a pen of the court, her future may change.