KOCHI: The National Testing Agency (NTA), the autonomous organisation that conducts entrance examinations for admission to higher educational institutions, on Tuesday informed the Kerala High Court that manipulating the OMR sheet in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) to cut down a candidate's marks is extremely improbable. "Normally the OMR of a candidate may be fabricated with a view to securing higher marks. There are no signs of manipulation or tampering in the sheet," added the NTA.
The NTA made the submission on a petition filed by Rithu Sibi of Thrissur, who attended the NEET 2021 exam conducted on September 12, seeking a CBI probe into the alleged manipulation. The court had ordered an investigation into the alleged manipulation.
When the case came up for hearing, S Nirmal, counsel for the NTA, submitted that it has constituted a committee including former professors from IIT to conduct an investigation.
NTA pointed out that the petitioner attended the exam from a centre in Thrissur. Her allegation that her father's and mother's names which are mentioned in the OMR sheet are not put up by her was not sustainable. The candidate's name in the attendance sheet has been printed as 'Rithu Sibi'. The OMR sheet on record cannot be disputed on the ground of this difference.
The committee found that the OMR sheet in the particular barcode and roll number pertains to the petitioner and it has been evaluated by the NTA as per the answers attempted by her.
The NTA made it clear that as per the record, there was no such complaint received from any other candidate from the same room or same centre where the petitioner appeared in NEET.
Justice N Nagaresh adjourned the case to Thursday for the counter affidavit by the petitioner.