NEET UG: Madras HC cancels admission of third-year MBBS student, here’s why

In a significant verdict, the Madras High Court cancelled a third-year MBBS student’s admission last week. The order came after the student enrolled at Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi government college had moved HC in 2020.

The student had alleged the possibility of answersheet manipulation. He had claimed so saying it may have led to him getting lesser marks in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET UG) exam than what he should have got as per his calculations on the basis of the answer key uploaded by National Testing Agency (NTA) on the official NEET website, The New Indian Express reported.

“In view of the decision taken, I am afraid that the permission granted by the learned single judge to permit the petitioner to attend counselling, consequent to which allotment of medical seat in Thoothukudi Government Medical College was made, will have to be interfered with and orders will have to be passed terminating the continuance of study by the petitioner,” Justice CV Karthikeyan was quoted as saying.

The student had claimed that he had got 594/720 marks as per his calculations from NEET UG 2020 Answer Key. His actual result was 248/720 marks. The student had alleged that the OMR sheet that the NTA uploaded was changed and as a result he had secured much lower marks. He reportedly exhibited screenshots of the website to back the allegation. The court had initially ordered that the student be given admission in the Thoothukudi government college followed by another judge’s order for a CB-CID probe into the matter.

Report from Chandigarh-based central forensic sciences laboratory (CFSL) ruled out the possibility of any tampering, confirming that signatures in examination attendance record and OMR sheet matched.

READ | Meet IAS officer Renu Raj, left her job as doctor to crack UPSC exam in first attempt, got 2nd rank