Madras HC reserves order on NEET-UG retest plea over power outage, refuses to extend stay on releasing results
CHENNAI: The Madras HC on Tuesday reserved orders on the petitions filed by the candidates appearing for the NEET-UG examination at three centres in the city and its suburbs seeking retest as they were allegedly affected by the power outage caused by sudden storm and heavy rains.
Justice C Kumarappan, before whom the petitions came up for hearing, refused to extend the interim stay, granted already by the court, on the release of the results. As a result, there is no legal bar on publishing the results which was scheduled for June 14.
The petitions were filed by some of the candidates who appeared for the examination at the Kendriya Vidyalaya at Avadi, Government Higher Secondary School in Kundrathur and Padma Seshadri School in KK Nagar.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) ARL Sundaresan, appearing for the Centre, filed a report on behalf of the National Testing Agency (NTA), saying inquiries revealed that a brief power outage was caused by sudden natural storm and rain in the respective places, but the power supply was restored quickly.
During this period, there was sufficient natural daylight in the classrooms; no contemporaneous complaint or representation was raised by any of the candidates including the petitioners regarding lighting or adverse conditions. Neither the centre superintendent nor any observers or invigilators recommended for compensatory time or reported any procedural irregularity; the examination was conducted strictly as per the NTA protocols, the ASG stated.
He also informed the court that an independent committee of statisticians was constituted to carry out an analysis of the performance of the centre and the students. The committee found no abnormal variation or decline in the number of attempted questions that would suggest disruption or disadvantage.
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