Supreme Court agrees to examine plea on NEET-PG question and answer disclosure

The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to examine a plea challenging the limited disclosure of question papers, answer keys, and candidates’ responses in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test Post Graduate exams (NEET PG) [Aditi and Ors v National Board of Examination in Medical Sciences and Ors]..“We will examine the issue,” a Bench comprising Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Vijay Bishnoi observed..The plea was filed by doctors and NEET-PG aspirants challenging a corrective notice issued by the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS).As per the notice, NBEMS said it will display answer keys and candidates’ responses only through “Question ID numbers” from a master question paper, rather than showing the actual questions attempted by candidates during the exam. .According to the petitioners, this format of disclosure prevents candidates from seeing a clear, candidate-wise view of the questions they actually attempted since different candidates are given different sets of question papers. Since the exam was conducted with shuffled questions and options, candidates are unable to properly match their responses with the questions, it was submitted.The current disclosure mechanism defeats the purpose of transparency in the examination process, it was contended.According to the plea, the question-ID only display renders the disclosure illusory and non-verifiable, and that it is violative of the right to a fair and transparent admission process under Article 21.Further, as per the petitioners, the practice is contrary to other national examinations such as JEE, CLAT, and AIIMS INI-CET, where candidate-wise response sheets are disclosed in the order attempted.Thus, there should be candidate-wise display showing the questions as attempted, the responses marked, the correct answers, and the marks awarded, it was prayed..During the last hearing, the Court had asked Senior Advocate Maninder Acharya to place on record the report of an expert committee, which had opined that no one other than the examinees should read the contents of the test.During the hearing today, the Court examined the affidavit filed by NBEMS.Senior Advocate Maninder Acharya, appearing for NBEMS, submitted, “Your Lordships are not convinced about the non-disclosure.”Justice Narasimha then clarified, “Nothing personal. We will just examine it.”Senior Advocate Shikhil Suri along with advocate Satyam Singh Rajput appeared on behalf of the petitioners..Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.