Probe NEET scorecard fraud, Kerala High Court tells police

The candidate submitted that he had downloaded the marksheet from an Akshaya centre in Kollam. However, the NTA said the scorecard produced by him was not on its record.
Representational image of Kerala High Court
Representational image of Kerala High Court

KOCHI: The High Court has directed the Kollam district police chief to probe the alleged fraud in the scorecard of a candidate who appeared for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET)-2022. Justice P V Kunhikrishnan said if a criminal offence is made out, the police are free to register a case and conduct an investigation without awaiting the court’s order.  At the hearing, the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts NEET, said the petitioner, Samikhan S of Kollam, obtained 16 marks out of 720 but produced another scorecard saying he got 468 marks. 

The candidate submitted that he had downloaded the marksheet from an Akshaya centre in Kollam. However, the NTA said the scorecard produced by him was not on its record and appears to have been forged. Samikhan had moved court seeking permission to attend the next round of counselling based on the marksheet he produced. 

He also sought a directive to NTA to treat him as having scored 468 marks in NEET. On November 23, 2022, the court had observed that there was an attempt to defraud it by producing forged documents, and had directed the petitioner to appear in person.  

A sub-committee consisting of three judges suggested enhancement of the retirement age, limiting to members with meritorious service and impeccable integrity. 

That means an evaluation of performance will have to be done at the age of 56, which is the age fixed for retirement, for an extension of service beyond 56 years. On February 28, the additional chief secretary informed the High Court that it could not accept the proposal as the government fixed the retirement age of the High Court staff at 56 at par with the government servants and in view of the fact that no decision was taken to enhance the retirement age of government servants, the government was not in a position to consider the proposal favourably. 

The division bench issued the order while disposing of the petitions filed by 11 High Court staffers who retired from service recently. The order stated that the retirement age has been fixed by the law laid down by the state legislature. 

The request of the Chief Justice can only be treated as a proposal for favourable consideration for initiating a suitable amendment to the law laid down with respect to the retirement age. The High Court cannot issue a writ of mandamus to the government to bring suitable amendments to the legislation. “The sub-committee constituted by the chief justice had gone into the matter and had only recommended the enhancement of the retirement age of meritorious employees and servants,” said the Bench.

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