Delhi High Court Reviews NEET-UG Candidate's Petition on Flawed Question

A petition by a NEET-UG candidate has led the Delhi High Court to seek a response from the National Testing Agency (NTA) regarding a question with two correct answers in the exam's answer key. The candidate argues that fairness was compromised, affecting her score and national rank.

The Delhi High Court has requested the National Testing Agency (NTA) to provide its stance on a petition filed by a NEET-UG candidate concerning a disputed question with two correct answers noted in the answer key.

Justice D K Sharma, presiding over the vacation bench, instructed the NTA's counsel to gather guidance on the plea. The petitioner requested that equal marks be given to participants who did not attempt the contentious question, as was done for those who chose either of the two correct answers.

The petition highlighted that fairness in competitive exams requires a uniform evaluation of all candidates, criticizing the NTA for awarding marks to two correct options despite instructions stating only one should be correct.

Uneasy about damaging her score, the 17-year-old petitioner skipped the question. She scored 633 out of 720 marks, securing approximately a 98 percentile and an all-India rank around 44,700, according to the plea.

The candidate contended that a single mark could critically alter her national rank, demanding the NTA amend and re-release the NEET-UG 2024 results and rankings based on revised scores.

The respondent published the final answer key on June 3, 2024, identifying that question no. 29 of Test Booklet Code R5 had both options 2 and 4 marked as correct, despite instructions specifying only one correct answer, the petition noted.

Arguing that expecting candidates to attempt a flawed question, especially with negative marking, is unreasonable, the plea described such practice as arbitrary and detrimental to rank positions.

The plea further criticized the arbitrary nature of the results, claiming grace marks were given without due diligence.

According to the final results, 67 candidates achieved a perfect score of 720/720, a trend distinctively different from previous years.

The court is set to hear the matter next week.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)