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Attorney(S)
  • ASLAM AHMED JAMAL
  • B. V. BALARAM DAS
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Citation Codes
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Attorney(S)
  • ASLAM AHMED JAMAL
  • B. V. BALARAM DAS
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Smart Summary

Factual and Procedural Background

The petitioners, Jaripiti Kartheek (WP(C) 366/2024) and Alakh Pandey (WP(C) 368/2024), both NEET-UG 2024 candidates, invoked Article 32 of the Constitution to challenge the National Testing Agency’s (NTA) decision to award “compensatory marks” to 1,563 examinees who were allegedly denied the full 3 hours 20 minutes of examination time. The compensatory marks had been calculated by a normalisation formula relying on this Court’s earlier judgment in Disha Panchal v. Union of India (2018) 17 SCC 278.

Objections were raised by other candidates, and separate petitions were filed before various High Courts. In response, the NTA constituted a second Committee on 10–12 June 2024 to re-examine the propriety of granting the compensatory marks. Its report recommended cancellation of the earlier scorecards, communication of actual (uncompensated) marks to the affected candidates, and a re-test limited to those 1,563 candidates.

The matter came before a Vacation Bench comprising Hon’ble Mr. Justice Vikram Nath and Hon’ble Mr. Justice Sandeep Mehta on 13 June 2024. Counsel for the Union of India and the NTA placed the Committee’s recommendations on record and proposed a time-bound schedule for re-test and declaration of results. After hearing all parties, the Court passed the present order.

Legal Issues Presented

  1. Whether the grant of compensatory marks to 1,563 NEET-UG 2024 candidates, calculated by the normalisation formula, was legally justified.
  2. Whether the remedial mechanism proposed by the NTA—cancellation of scorecards and a limited re-test—constitutes a fair and reasonable resolution consistent with constitutional and statutory obligations.

Arguments of the Parties

National Testing Agency / Union of India

  • Informed the Court that, acting on the second Committee’s report dated 12 June 2024, the NTA would cancel the earlier scorecards and conduct a re-test for the 1,563 candidates on 23 June 2024, with results to be declared before 30 June 2024 so as not to delay counselling beginning 6 July 2024.

Petitioner in WP(C) 366/2024

  • Accepted that the Committee’s decision to hold a re-test is fair and expressed no further grievance regarding compensatory marks.

Petitioner in WP(C) 368/2024

  • Recorded satisfaction with the resolution of the compensatory-marks issue but sought to keep the writ petition alive on other, unspecified grounds.

Table of Precedents Cited

Precedent Rule or Principle Cited For Application by the Court
Disha Panchal & Ors. v. Union of India, (2018) 17 SCC 278 Permissibility of awarding compensatory marks through a normalisation formula when examination time is curtailed. The NTA originally relied on this judgment to justify granting compensatory marks; the present order notes that reliance but ultimately endorses the Committee’s fresh recommendation to withdraw those marks and hold a re-test.

Court's Reasoning and Analysis

1. The Bench examined the second Committee’s meetings (10–12 June 2024) and its conclusions that a re-test is the “most appropriate, fair and reasonable solution.”

2. The Court noted that the recommendations include: (i) cancellation and withdrawal of the 4 June 2024 scorecards; (ii) communication of actual uncompensated scores to each affected candidate; (iii) conduct of a re-examination on 23 June 2024; (iv) declaration of re-test results before 30 June 2024; and (v) use of either the re-test score or the original uncompensated score, at the option of candidates who decline the re-test.

3. Taking into account submissions from counsel for the petitioners, the Union, and the NTA—all of whom accepted the fairness of the Committee’s solution—the Court found the recommendations “fair, reasonable and justified.”

4. Given this finding, the Court authorised the NTA to proceed with the re-test and aligned the litigation outcome accordingly.

Holding and Implications

Writ Petition (Civil) No. 366/2024 is DISPOSED OF. All pending applications therein stand disposed.

In Writ Petition (Civil) No. 368/2024, the issue of compensatory marks is closed; respondents are directed to file responses on the remaining issues within two weeks, and the matter is listed for 8 July 2024 (tagged with WP(C) 335/2024).

Implications: The NTA is permitted to cancel the disputed scorecards and hold a limited re-test on 23 June 2024, ensuring NEET counselling commences as scheduled on 6 July 2024. The order resolves the compensatory-marks controversy for 2024 without laying down a new legal precedent but provides a fact-specific remedial framework for similarly situated examinations.

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    ALAKH PANDEY v. NATIONAL TESTING AGENCY

    ITEM NO.3 + 4 COURT NO.12 SECTION PIL-W

    S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A

    RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

    Writ Petition(s)(Civil) No(s). 368/2024 ALAKH PANDEY Petitioner(s)

    VERSUS

    NATIONAL TESTING AGENCY & ANR. Respondent(s) ( IA No. 131968/2024 - EARLY HEARING APPLICATION IA No. 131530/2024 - EX-PARTE AD-INTERIM RELIEF)

    ITEM NO.4

    Writ Petition(s)(Civil) No(s). 366/2024 JARIPITI KARTHEEK Petitioner(s)

    VERSUS

    NATIONAL TESTING AGENCY (NTA) & ORS. Respondent(s) ( IA No. 131306/2024 - CLARIFICATION/DIRECTION) Date : 13-06-2024 These matters were called on for hearing today.

    CORAM :

    HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VIKRAM NATH HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANDEEP MEHTA

    (VACATION BENCH)

    For Petitioner(s) Mr. J Sai Deepak, Adv. Mr. Rohit Jain, Adv.

    Mr. Aslam Ahmed Jamal, AOR

    Ms. Kheyali Singh, Adv.

    Ms. Shabiesta Nabi, Adv.

    Mr. Abhishek Dwivedi, Adv.

    Mr. Rahat Khan Afridi, Adv. Mr. Y. Balaji, Adv.

    Mr. Chirag Sharma, Adv.

    Mr. Vijay Kumar, Adv.

    Mr. Chand Qureshi, AOR

    1

    For Respondent(s) Mr. Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General Mr. Naresh Kaushik, Sr. Adv.

    Mr. Kanu Aggarwal, Adv.

    Mr. Vardhman Kaushik, AOR

    Mr. Nishant Gautam, Adv.

    Mr. Dhruv Joshi, Adv.

    Mr. Anand Singh, Adv.

    Mr. Mayank Sharma, Adv.

    UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following

    O R D E R

    By means of Writ Petition (Civil) No. 366 of 2024, under Article 32 of the Constitution, the petitioner Jaripiti Kartheek, who had appeared in National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) UG-2024 Exam, has raised a grievance regarding grant of compensatory marks to 1563 candidates by using normalisation formula where the candidates who had appeared at some of the examination centres were not allowed to utilize full 3 hours and 20 minutes time but were granted lesser time. The compensatory marks were awarded on the basis of recommendations of the Grievance Redressal Committee constituted by the National Testing Agency1 relying upon a judgment of this Court in the case of 'Disha Panchal and Others Vs. Union of India' 2 . This award of compensatory marks was objected to by other candidates and apparently some petitions were also filed before the High Courts challenging the award of such marks. NTA thereafter

    1 NTA

    2 (2 018) 17 SCC 2 78

    2

    constituted another Committee to reconsider the issue and give its recommendations as to whether the award of compensatory marks was justified. This subsequent Committee held meetings on 10th June, 2024, 11th June, 2024 and 12th June, 2024 and after deliberations made recommendations which have been placed before us by Mr. Kanu Aggarwal, learned counsel appearing for Union of India(UOI).

    According to the said recommendations, it has been suggested that the score cards of the affected 1563 candidates issued on 4th June, 2024 will stand cancelled and withdrawn. These affected 1563 candidates will be informed about their actual scores without compensatory marks. Further re-test will be conducted for the affected 1563 candidates. The result of those affected 1563 candidates who do not wish to appear for the re-test will be declared based on their actual marks (without adding compensatory marks) obtained by them in the test held on 5th May, 2024 and the marks obtained by the candidates who appear in the re-test will be considered and their marks obtained in the test held on 5th May, 2024 will be discarded. Such recommendations are recorded in paragraph 8 of the report, which is reproduced hereunder :

    "8. After examining all the aspects

    3

    of the situation in totality, this committee concludes that the most appropriate, fair and reasonable solution to the issue would be subjecting those 1563 candidates to a retest at the earliest possible. This Committee therefore considers it most appropriate to recommend as under :

    (i) The Score Cards of all affected (1563) candidates issued on 04.06.2024 will stand cancelled and thus withdrawn. The affected 1563 candidates will be informed of their actual Scores (without compensation), through their registered email IDs.

    (ii) A re-examination will be conducted for the affected candidates (1563). The directions of re-examination passed by Courts in individual cases will also be included by

    NTA.

    (iii) The result of those affected candidates (1563) who do not wish to appear for the re-examination, will be declared based on their actual marks (without compensation) obtained in the examination

    4

    conducted on 05.05.2024

    (iv) The marks obtained by the candidates who will appear in the re-test will be considered and their marks based on examination on 05.05.2024 will be discarded."

    Mr. Naresh Kaushik, learned counsel appearing for the NTA, upon instructions, has stated that the re-test will be notified today itself and would be held on 23rd of June, 2024. The result of the same would be declared prior to 30th June, 2024 so that the counseling which is likely to start from 6th July, 2024 onwards would not be affected. Upon such submissions made by the learned counsel for the UOI and the NTA, Shri Y. Balaji, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 366 of 2024 submits that the decision taken is a fair decision and he has no further grievance regarding compensatory marks issue. Learned counsel appearing in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 368 of 2024 submits that though he has substantially raised the issue of compensatory marks with which he is now broadly satisfied with the decision taken by the Union and the NTA, as recorded above, however, he states that he has raised other issues in this petition as such the petition may be

    5

    kept alive for other issues. Having considered the submissions and the material placed on record, this Court finds that the recommendations made by the Committee on 12th June, 2024 after deliberations held on 10th, 11th and 12th June, 2024, are fair, reasonable and justified. Accordingly, the respondent NTA may proceed for holding the re-test as indicated above. Considering the aforesaid, we dispose of Writ Petition(Civil) No. 366 of 2024. Pending application(s), if any, shall stand disposed of.

    In so far as Writ Petition (Civil) No. 368 of 2024 is concerned, so far as the issue of the compensatory marks is concerned, the same stands closed however, with respect to the other issues, the represented respondents will file their response within two weeks. Issue notice to the unrepresented respondents, returnable on 08th July, 2024. Tag with Writ Petition(Civil) No. 335 of 2024. List on 8th July, 2024.

    (SONIA BHASIN)

    COURT MASTER (SH)

    (RANJANA SHAILEY)

    COURT MASTER (NSH)

    6

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    ALAKH PANDEY v. NATIONAL TESTING AGENCY
    (Jun 13, 2024)