MP High Court seeks Centre’s reply on NEET-UG re-exam results

The Madhya Pradesh High Court granted the Centre a week's time to respond to a petition alleging discrepancies in the NEET-UG re-examination results. The petitioner also questioned the legal status and constitutional validity of the National Testing Agency

Indore: The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Tuesday granted the Central government a week’s time to file its brief reply to a candidate’s petition alleging a discrepancy in the NEET-UG re-examination results.

Lokendra Singh Khadia, a student from Jhabua district, claimed in the petition that, based on the official OMR (optical mark recognition) sheet and answer key issued by the National Testing Agency (NTA), he scored 305 marks in the NEET-UG re-examination, while the declared result awarded him only 64 marks.

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The candidate has filed a petition in the High Court seeking redressal of the alleged discrepancy.

During the hearing before Justices Subodh Abhyankar and Alok Awasthi of the Indore Bench, Additional Solicitor General Romesh Dave, representing the Centre, requested the court to grant him a week’s time to obtain instructions and file a short reply.

The High Court granted the Centre this extension and posted the matter for the next hearing on July 28.

Advocate Abhinav Dhanodkar, appearing for the petitioner, told PTI that the petition also challenges the formation of the NTA, its legal status and its constitutional validity.

“The petition states that the NTA is not a statutory body established by Parliament, but a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. Based on this, the petitioner has also requested a judicial review of the NTA’s legal status,” he said.

The NEET-UG examination for admission to medical courses was held on May 3 but was cancelled on May 12 following allegations of a question paper leak. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is investigating the matter.

The NEET-UG re-examination was held on June 21 amid tight security, and the results were declared on July 16.