The Supreme Court on Thursday cleared the way for the National Testing Agency (NTA) to declare the results of the NEET-UG 2021 examination by staying a Bombay High Court decision to conduct fresh exams for two aspirants.
The High Court had passed the order on a plea by the two students that they were handed question papers and answer sheets with different serial numbers in the examination.
A Bench led by Justice L. Nageswara Rao froze the High Court order, allowing the NEET results to be declared. The Bench said it would consider the case of the two students, including what could be done for them, in detail later.
“These students cannot be left in the lurch. The invigilator has accepted the mistake,” Justice Rao noted.
The NTA had approached the Supreme Court in appeal against the High Court order.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for the NTA, said the confusion had happened in the case of total six students, of which only two had come to court.
“The remaining four wrote the exam and got good marks,” Mr. Mehta submitted.
The court reiterated that there was no reason to withhold the results because of a complaint made by two students. The future of lakhs of students was at stake.
“There are 16 lakhs students who are eagerly waiting for the results. We will see what we can do for these two students… The NTA is ready to rectify… Please announce the results,” Justice Rao said.
The court scheduled the case again on November 12 to examine in detail whether there is any relief that could possibly be granted for the two students.
