‘We sympathise with students, but sorry’: SC refuses NEET UG re-exam for 2 students

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today set aside the Bombay High Court’s order to hold re-exam for two NEET UG aspirants whose question papers and OMR sheets got mixed at a centre in Maharashtra.

A bench comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao and BR Gavai said, "We feel sorry for the students and sympathise with them but cannot hold a re-examination" and added that if the direction to conduct NEET UG re-exam is provided, it will become a pattern.

The bench noted that the marks of the two students were computed as per the suggestion given by the NTA to the High Court that the scores will be calculated without insisting on the test booklet code and OMR sheet being different, Live Law reported.

Also read | NEET Result 2021: Results of 15 candidates cancelled for 'using unfair practices' in exam

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the NTA, submitted that the mix up happened in the case of 6 students. However, only two students had raised the issue.

Supreme Court hearing NTA's appeal against Bombay HC order allowing re-test for 2 students for mix-up of booklets by invigilators during NEET-UG exam.

SC had earlier stayed the Bombay HC direction and allowed NTA to declare results. #NEETUG pic.twitter.com/x5gfEkufTD

— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) November 12, 2021

On October 20, in an unprecedented order, the Bombay High Court directed the NTA to hold fresh exams for the two students and declare their results along with the main results of the test conducted on September 12.

The test booklet and OMR sheet of two medical aspirants -- Vaishanavi Bhopali and Abhishek Shivaji – got mixed up at the examination centre before the start of the test and ordered that they be given a fresh opportunity to appear.

Also read | 'Zero marks': Error in NEET result 2021, scores based on answer key, students claim

The NTA, in its appeal, said that the NEET UG 2021 examination was conducted for over 16 lakh candidates on September 12, and due to the high court’s order it has not been able “to declare their results even though the same is ready for declaration".

Following this, the Supreme Court gave its permission to declare the results and the NTA declared the NEET UG results on November 1.

There were several controversies this year, and reports on impersonisation and NEET paper leak also surfaced. In this regard, the NTA had cancelled the NEET results of 15 candidates for using unfair means during the exam.