SC orders manual evaluation of NEET-UG aspirant’s answer sheet

A NEET-UG 2025 aspirant who complained about page sequencing errors in his question paper will have his answer script manually evaluated, following a directive from the Supreme Court.

The order was issued by a bench comprising Justices B V Nagarathna and K V Viswanathan, who asked that the result of the manual evaluation be placed on record.

"He (petitioner) will have the satisfaction of getting his papers manually checked," the bench said while hearing the student’s plea about the irregular order of pages in the exam booklet.

NEET-UG is conducted by the National Testing Agency for admission to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH, and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country.

Additional Solicitor General Archana Pathak Dave, appearing for the respondents, submitted a copy of the candidate's question paper and informed the court that the issue likely arose due to faulty stapling.

"However, in order to satisfy ourselves, we direct that the petitioner's paper shall be evaluated manually and the result of the evaluation be placed on the record. The said exercise shall be carried out within a period of one week," the bench said.

Dave added that stapling is done manually. In response, the court remarked, "The least that could be done is to give the questions in seriatim."

The bench further noted, "Look at the panic of the candidate. It is not an ordinary exam."

The law officer explained that only semi-skilled or semi-literate individuals are employed for stapling to prevent question leaks.

"If we give it to a literate person and if he staples it, we know for sure that he can memorize one or two questions,and they can go out," she said, calling the case a "rarest of rare" instance.

The court, however, expressed concern over the stress students face during such high-stakes exams.

"Seventeen- to eighteen-year-old students are dying by suicide. Please don't try to justify," the bench remarked while posting the matter for further hearing on Aug 12.