The Madras High Court ordered the NTA to give grace marks to NEET aspirants from the SC category. The first bench of the Madras High Court, comprising Acting Chief Justice T Raja and Justice D Krishna Kumar, on Friday ordered the National Testing Agency (NTA) to provide four grace marks to a NEET candidate for a question on which wrong key answers were provided in the question paper.
Who Filed The Petition For Grace Marks?
A petitioner named T Udhayakumar, who belongs to the Scheduled Caste (SC) category, scored 92 marks against the NEET cut-off of 93. T Udhayakumar approached the NTA seeking the marks, but his plea was rejected, stating the marks were given only if the question was answered. But he omitted it, fearing the negative marking. His plea was withdrawn and later on a fresh one was filed, but again it was dismissed for deficiencies.
Decision Of Madras High Court Bench
Article 46 of the Indian Constitution states that the state shall protect the educational and economic interests of SCs, STs, and weaker sections. The bench of the Madras High Court comprising Acting Chief Justice T Raja and Justice D Krishna Kumar said, “The NTA, being an instrumentality of the State, cannot refuse to award the four marks to the appellant who belongs to the weaker section of society.”
Madras High Court Bench said when the appellant/writ petitioner hailing from a downtrodden community had secured 92 marks in the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (UG) 2022 examination, “in view of the wrong key answers given to question No.97, he failed to secure the four marks,” the bench said.
The bench added that the relief provided should be confined to the appellant alone, as he has diligently approached this court without any delay, making it clear that this case may not be treated as a precedent.
