SC refuses to hear plea challenging NEET-2019

NEW DELHI — The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a plea moved by a group of students claiming that the answer keys of four questions in the National Eligibility-cum Entrance Test (NEET) for admissions to MBBS and BDS courses were incorrect. The test was held on May 5.

A vacation bench comprising Justices Ajay Rastogi and Surya Kant said that the judges cannot become subject experts, and therefore, cannot sit as an appellate body over the National Testing Agency (NTA).

“... Of late interference from courts in such issues is too much ...we sometimes think if we should consider ourselves as experts?” the court observed, while declining the plea. The court also said that the judges are not better experts than those who have examined the questions.

“If we become subject expert then will every multiple choice question be scrutinised by the courts?” the court asked the petitioner. The court also declined to appoint any subject matter experts to examine the queries of the petitioner.

The counselling for the NEET exam is scheduled on June 19.

On Thursday, a vacation bench comprising Justices Indira Banerjee and Ajay Rastogi agreed to hear the writ petition, which was filed by advocate Mahfooz Nazki representing Kayathi Rohan Reddy and three others, hailing from Hyderabad. The students claimed that the error can potentially jeopardise prospects of lakhs of students, who had appeared for the test.

The counsel for the petitioners urged the top court to direct the quashing of the final answer key published on June 5 by the NTA, the agency which conducts NEET UG -2109. —

Of late interference from courts in such issues is too much ...we sometimes think if we should consider ourselves as experts?

Supreme Court