NEET UG 2025: Delhi High Court dismisses OMR re-evaluation plea; upholds NTA’s machine-based evaluation

The Delhi High Court has dismissed a petition challenging the evaluation of a National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) UG 2025 Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheet. The candidate sought revision of his NEET UG result and rank, alleging that the National Testing Agency (NTA) failed to award marks for certain questions. NEET UG Counselling 2025 LIVE

According to a report by LiveLaw, Justice Vikas Mahajan held that the NTA had followed a uniform process in scanning and evaluating the OMR sheets, and there was no arbitrariness in the procedure. The Court noted that the OMRs of all candidates were processed through scanners without human interference.

“The OMR sheets of all candidates were checked by the OMR scanners, without human interference; therefore, the same yardstick was applied in the case of each candidate. Further, this Court finds that non-awarding of marks to the petitioner for the aforesaid four questions is absolutely in accordance with the instructions given to the candidates in relation to the OMR sheet,” the Court said.”

NEET UG 2025: Candidate’s claim on evaluation errors

The petition was filed by Abid Khan, who had secured a 92.5368 percentile and sought admission to Government Medical College, Himachal Pradesh, under the ST category merit list. He alleged that the NTA failed to award marks for five questions despite his responses being correct.

NTA, however, argued that with respect to one question, marks had been awarded, but for the remaining four, the candidate had only put spot marks instead of fully darkening the circles. The OMR scanner treated those responses as unanswered. LiveLaw reported that the Court, after examining the OMR sheet, found that Khan had not darkened the circles as per the prescribed instructions.

The Court observed that all candidates were clearly informed about the requirement of completely darkening the circles and that partial or dot markings would not be read by the scanner.

“As is evident from the OMR sheet, the petitioner had not darkened complete circle. Insofar as Q. 140 & 141 are concerned the petitioner has put only dots, and for Q. 137 & 139 complete circle has not been darkened,” the order recorded.

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No provision for rechecking or revaluation of OMR sheets

LiveLaw further noted that the Court relied on the provisions of the NEET UG 2025 Information Bulletin, which states that there is no provision for rechecking or revaluation of the OMR sheets since they are machine gradable and evaluated through software designed to ensure uniformity.

The Court reiterated that the instructions contained in the examination prospectus are binding and no direction can be issued contrary to them. With this, the petition was dismissed.

“The law is well settled that Prospectus / Bulletin of Information issued by Institution / University is binding and no mandamus can be issued to the educational institutions to act contrary to their own procedure,” the court said.