E-Paper
Will review ‘error’ in Hindi NEET paper, NTA to SC on plea seeking new merit list
Solicitor general Tushar Mehta’s assurance to the Supreme Court came on a petition by 22 aspirants who asked the top court to order the NTA to delete the erroneous NEET-UG exam question and declare their results afresh.
NEW DELHI: The National Testing Agency (NTA) will revisit the Hindi translation of one question of NEET (UG), the national entrance exam for admission to undergraduate medical courses, solicitor general Tushar Mehta told the Supreme Court on Thursday.
Mehta’s assurance to a bench headed by justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud came on a petition by 22 aspirants who asked the Supreme Court to order the NTA to delete the erroneous question and declare their results afresh.
NTA, a government-run testing agency mandated to conduct entrance examinations for higher education institutions, told the Supreme Court that a committee of three experts examined the alleged error flagged by the aspirants but concluded that there was nothing wrong in the Hindi translation.
But lawyer Archana Pathak Dave persisted, pointing out that the words “amplitude of current” appearing in the English translation was absent in the Hindi translation thus leading to a different answer altogether.
In their petition, the students said the discrepancy in question 2 of Section A-15 (physics) in the question paper bearing code P-2 put Hindi-speaking students/states in a disadvantageous position. This would push them back by thousands of ranks and jeopardise their future, thereby breaching the fundamental rights of these students as enshrined under the Constitution.
To allay the concerns, Mehta said the committee of neutral experts will be asked to evaluate the question again. The bench recorded this statement in its order and said, “After this process is done, an affidavit would be filed before this Court setting out the result of the evaluation of the solutions.” The court posted the matter for hearing on Tuesday.
Out of the 15 lakh students who appeared for NEET-UG 2021, nearly 2 lakh students opted to attempt the examination in Hindi.
The examination was conducted on 12 September.
The NTA announced the results of NEET-UG early this month and an answer key was released on the basis of the English translation, thereby putting the Hindi-speaking candidates at a disadvantageous position, the petition said.
The NTA treats only the English version of the questions as final and for this reason, the petitioners had approached the top court, it added.
