SC Restricts CBSE to Appeal in NEET Case

On June 21, 2018, the Supreme Court of India restricted CBSE to appeal against an order issued by High Court of Bombay directing the board to give proportionate marks to a section of students, who lost half an hour (30 minutes) due to the invigilator’s recklessness or fault during the NEET-UG 2018exam. A vacation bench of justices Indu Malhotra and Abdul Nazeer directed the CBSE to comply/ follow the order of Bombay HC within 10 days.

Earlier, CBSE approached Supreme Court challenging the order of Bombay HC. The board also questioned the validity of the HC’s order issued on June 15, 2018.

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On June 15, 2018, the High Court of Bombay directed the Central Board of Secondary Education to apply the formula recommended by the court and award additional proportionate marks to 24 students. These students took NEET-UG 2018 exam at an examination centre in Nagpur. The invigilator at a particular room did not allow the students to write the exam for the prescribed three hours.

Vaishnavi Sandeep Maniyar, who filed the petition in Bombay HC on the issue, alleged that the invigilator allowed them to start the exam at 10:30 AM instead of 10:00 AM. Therefore, students were not able to answer all the questions because of which they lost marks.

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Finally, Bombay HC directed the CBSE to revise the marks of these 24 students and release correct mark list by June 22, 2018. On the other hand, the court issued directions to the concerned authorities to allow these students to take part in second round NEET counselling process.