Supreme Court Orders Manual Check Of NEET-UG Answer Sheet After Page Mix-Up: ‘Not An Ordinary Exam’
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Supreme Court steps in after a NEET-UG aspirant complains of wrongly stapled question paper. Justices order manual re-evaluation, citing student panic and exam stress.
New Delhi: On August 5, the Supreme Court of India has directed the manual checking of a NEET-UG 2025 aspirant’s answer sheet after the student alleged that the pages in his question paper were not in the correct order.
This issue, according to the student, caused confusion during the highly competitive medical entrance exam.
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The decision came from a bench consisting of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and K.V. Viswanathan, who said,
“He (petitioner) will have the satisfaction of getting his papers manually checked.”
The bench asked that the result of this manual evaluation be submitted before the Court.
NEET-UG (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for Undergraduate courses) is conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for admissions into MBBS, BDS, AYUSH, and other related courses in both government and private colleges across India.
Due to the high stakes involved, even a minor error in the exam paper can severely affect a student’s future.
The student who filed the petition claimed that the pages in his NEET-UG question paper were stapled in the wrong sequence, making it difficult to navigate through the questions during the exam.
In response, the Additional Solicitor General Archana Pathak Dave, representing the respondents, submitted a copy of the question paper before the Court and explained that the error occurred due to “incorrect stapling.”
Taking note of the gravity of the issue, the Court ordered,
“However, in order to satisfy ourselves, we direct that the petitioner’s paper shall be evaluated manually and the result of the evaluation be placed on the record. The said exercise shall be carried out within a period of one week.”
Dave further clarified that the stapling of question papers was done manually, not mechanically. To this, the bench noted,
“The least that could be done is to give the questions in seriatim.”
The Justices expressed concern over the stress such issues cause to students and remarked,
“Look at the panic of the candidate. It is not an ordinary exam.”
Dave argued that manual stapling was handled by people with limited literacy to prevent any leakage of exam questions. She said,
“If we give it to a literate person and if he staples it, we know for sure that one or two questions he can memorise and they can go out,”
while also pointing out that this was a “rarest of rare” case.
The bench, however, was not satisfied with the explanation and highlighted the emotional impact such errors could have on students.
Also Read: NEET-UG 2024 Paper Leak | Medical Aspirants Move Supreme Court Seeking NEET-UG Re-exam
The judges said,
“17-18 year old students were dying by suicide,” and firmly responded, “Please don’t try to justify.”
The Supreme Court has scheduled the next hearing of the matter for August 12and until then, has instructed that the petitioner’s paper be manually reviewed and the results submitted for further consideration.
Case Title:
ROBIN SINGH VERSUS UNION OF INDIA & ORS.
Read Order:
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