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On Monday, the Supreme Court heard the issue of tampering with NEET OMR sheets. The National Testing Agency (NTA) made alterations to the OMR sheet in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) undergraduate examinations for the year 2021, according to the court.

The Bench says “It cannot prima facie be suggested that there was an act of tampering or manipulation in the back office of NTA."

On Monday, January 10, the Supreme Court dismissed a writ suit brought by six NEET-UG applicants who claimed that their NEET results were tainted by tampering with the OMR sheet. The bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna noted that the NTA had shown the candidates the OMR sheets.

Five out of six petitioners agreed that the genuine OMR sheets were uploaded on the official website, which was acknowledged by the bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna.

The Court went on to say that the OMR sheets on record were the ones with the petitioner candidates' original handwriting and signatures from both invigilators and candidates.

The Court ordered, "It cannot be prima facie be suggested that there were any acts of tampering or manipulation in the back office of National Testing Agency. The examination has been attempted by 15.44 lakh candidates out of which six have come to this court. Five have verified their OMR sheet along with their parents. Petition dismissed."

The petitioners claimed that the NTA disclosed their NEET UG scores, which differed significantly from the scores they calculated using the NEET answer key. One of the candidates claimed that his NEET-UG answer key score was 584, however, he only received 164 marks in the end. Other candidates have claimed that his marks according to the answer key were 545, but he received a zero in the final result. Other anomalies in the medical test, such as the NEET paper leak case, have been noted by petitioners.

"There are malpractices and corrupt practices which are undergoing on at the levels which the innocent, deserving and meritorious petitioners cannot imagine which has resulted in arbitrariness and rejection of meritorious candidates and as such is violative of their rights under Article 14 of the Constitution of India," stated by the Petitioners.