Delhi High Court allows 14 NEET aspirants to physically inspect their OMR sheets [Read Order]

Pursuant to a petition apprehending tampering with answer sheets, the Delhi High Court recently allowed fourteen National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) aspirants to physically inspect their OMR sheets at the office of the National Testing Agency (NTA). .A single-judge Bench of Justice Jayant Nath also allowed the aspirants to take photographs of the original OMR sheets (Muskaan Sabharwal & Ors vs NTA & Ors)..The order recorded that in some matters, NTA itself had permitted physical inspection of the OMR Sheets. .The court was dealing with a petition preferred by the fourteen aspirants (petitioners). .As per the petitioners, on October 5, 2020, when the OMR sheets were uploaded on the NTA website, it was seen that the answers recorded in the OMR sheet did not tally with the actual answers recorded by them. .While some aspirants found their OMR sheet to be blank, the others noted that that their score in the OMR was different from the score on the revised OMR sheet uploaded after two days..It was also seen that the number of attempted and unattempted questions were also not the same as their actual number. .Traumatised by the discrepancies, the petitioners felt a “huge apprehension” of tampering with answer sheets..The petitioners argued before the court that without a transparent and fair scrutiny in the matter, they would become victims of an unfair process of evaluation. They, therefore, prayed that their original OMR sheets be furnished to them. .The petitioners also challenged the process approved by NTA to challenge the OMR answer sheets..Since the process requires payment of Rs 1,000 per question, the petitioners asserted that the same was unreasonable, unjust and irrational..The matter would be taken up next on December 16. .Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan with Advocates Tanvi Dubey, Dr. Charu Mathur, Malak Bhat and Sanjay Dubey appeared for the petitioners. .NTA was represented by Advocate Amit Bansal..[Read Order]