Delhi HC asks NTA to form grievance panel for candidates affected by tech issues
The direction was issued by justice Vikas Mahajan on Monday while dealing with a plea filed by a NEET UG candidate seeking compensatory marks in the medical entrance exam, asserting that he was subjected to interruptions and harassment mid examination for re-verification of his identity credentials.
In his petition, the candidate claimed that the technical glitches in the biometric verification delayed his entry to the exam hall and was later asked to again step out for biometric verification mid-exam, submitting applications in English and Hindi. It went on to add that despite loss of time, the examination authorities did not give him compensatory time.
The NTA, represented by advocate Sanjay Khanna, opposed the petition asserting that the candidate had reached 14 minutes after the commencement of the exam process and the glitch could not be attributed to it since the candidate had himself locked the biometric verification and the verification could not be completed despite three attempts.
He further submitted that the examination authority's action of contacting the candidate mid exam was a part of the general procedure and he could thus not seek advantage of the same.
Consequently, the court after viewing the CCTV footage to ascertain the time lost, directed the NTA to award him grace marks. It noted that the examination authorities could not justify interrupting the candidate during the exam, especially when he had already agreed to take responsibility for any biometric discrepancies.
'This court finds that the petitioner having evidently suffered a loss of time amounting to 03 minutes and 32 seconds, during the exam due to no fault of his own, deserves to be compensated,' the court noted.
Noting multiple instances where candidates lost exam time through no fault of their own, Justice Mahajan, in a 23-page order, directed the NTA to set up a committee saying, 'This Court has come across a few individual cases where the candidates suffered loss of exam time for the reason not attributable to them. Constitutional courts cannot be expected to view CCTV footage, like in the present case, for each such candidate who has been prejudiced on account of loss of exam time for no fault of his. Such cases ought to be examined by a body of experts in a transparent and fair manner which would carry out the exercise undertaken by this court in the present case.'
It added, 'Accordingly, the respondent no.1/NTA is directed to constitute a standing Grievance Redressal Committee for the said purpose, if not already in place, where aggrieved candidates may approach for redressal of their grievances. The standing committee shall also be at liberty to devise a formula more suitable/appropriate for the examination in question.'
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