A NEET 2021 aspirant suffering from dysgraphia filed a plea on Supreme Court stating that she was refused an extra hour for attempting the medical entrance test by the examination centre and sought directions from the NTA to either allow her for a re-examination or compensate by giving her grace marks or no negative marking.
The SC bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud denying permission for re-exam has directed NTA to come up with a solution within one week. The top court also directed the agency to take measures after consulting the director-general of health services. NTA has been asked to communicate its decision to the registry of the court by filing a status report within a period of two weeks from this judgment, reported Live Law.
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“As an examining body, the NTA was bound to scrupulously enforce the guidelines for the examination which provide for specific relaxations for persons with disability. The appellant has suffered injustice from wrongful denial, and lack of remedy from this court would result in irreparable injustice to the life of the student. The RPWD Act which provides beneficial provisions for persons with disabilities would have no meaning unless scrupulously enforced,” SC was quoted as saying.
“The First respondent cannot simply get away when confronted with the situation where injustice has been caused to a student at a large competitive examination, and the same cannot be sent into oblivion on the submission that it is the necessary consequence of a competitive examination,” the bench added.
SC also directed NTA that in the future it must ensure that provisions are made for in NEET in view of the rights and entitlements under the PwD Act. It also added the examination centre was ignorant of facilities and it is the NTA’s responsibility to train them towards the rights and entitlements of the PWD.
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The apex court also directed NTA to add a segment on the NEET information brochure on candidates with disabilities, featuring proper guidelines so that this situation never happens again in the future.
“….the brochure for NEET must have a segment on candidates with disabilities, enumerating the specific benefits available for visually-challenged, hearing-impaired candidates or candidates with dysgraphia. There should be disclosure in advance. Secondly, there should be proper training for invigilators. It is very crucial that they are aware. You as the NTA have bona-fides, but very often, the invigilators on the ground are not aware. Like in this case, her paper was snatched. It is heart-rending…instructions must be given down the line so that these benefits are implemented,” the bench said.
“Also, there has to be a policy for where the candidate is not at fault. How do you set it right where a candidate is losing out at the last minute when they did not even do anything? Medical education today is so competitive.,” Justice Chandrachud added.
To the court’s order, NTA said that it had held five to six webinars with the invigilators and will ensure this never happens in the future.
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