NEET UG: Delhi HC seeks NTA's response on plea alleging defective biometric system at centre

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has asked the National Testing Agency to respond to a NEET-UG 2025 candidate's plea seeking compensatory marks on the ground of being mentally disturbed due to the defective biometric verification system at the exam centre. Justice Prathiba M Singh on June 20 issued notice to the National Testing Agency (NTA) on the candidate's plea. The petitioner alleged that during the authentication process, prior to the exam, the biometric verification did not work at the test centre and he was made to file an application requesting permission to enter the examination hall.

The court directed the preservation of the CCTV recordings, log book entries and any other registers at the test centre, subject to its further orders. The candidate appeared for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) (UG) 2025 exam on May 4 at Trishla Devi Kanohar Lal Balika Inter College in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. The petitioner sought certain reliefs including compensatory marks in the medical entrance exam and preservation of CCTV footage from the test centre concerned.

The petitioner claimed being permitted to exam enter only five minutes before the commencement of the test. While the examination was underway, he was asked to step out for the biometric verification and made to submit an application in both English and Hindi to the centre superintendent which led to considerable mental disturbance to him while giving the exam, his plea said.

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Decision postponed

The candidate was stated have scored 98.86 percentile in the exam. The court order said, "Let the contentions in the writ petition be rebutted by the NTA by filing a counter affidavit, specifically in respect of the allegations relating to the biometric verification. In addition, the CCTV recordings, log book entries and any other registers at the test centre shall also be preserved, subject to further orders of this court."

After the petitioner's counsel said compensatory marks could also be calculated in line with a Supreme Court decision, the high court said it would be consider the plea on the next hearing after examining the stand of the NTA on the biometric verification. When the counsel informed that counselling would tentatively commence July 1 onward, the court posted the hearing on June 27.