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Synopsis

The Delhi High Court has directed the National Testing Agency (NTA) to guarantee the timely upload of the final answer key for the Central University Entrance Test (CUET) at least one day before the result announcement.

The bench of Justice C. Hari Shankar issued this direction in response to an assurance from Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma, representing the NTA.

The court emphasized that objections to the provisional answer key should be addressed by the NTA before the final result is released.

The order was passed while dealing with a petition filed by a CUET candidate challenging the 2022 test's final results, which were declared without disclosing the final answer key.

The petitioner contended that the NTA released the final results without providing the candidates access to the conclusive answer key, even after objections were examined.

The single-judge bench noted that even after the final results of the CUET had been declared, there was a second exercise of examination of the objections to the proposed answer key and sought NTA’s explanation.

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Chetan Sharma submitted that the exercise of re-examination of the answer keys after the final results were declared may have been avoidable but was undertaken bonafidely, especially as a large number of objections were received even after the final result was declared.

The ASG stated that a decision was taken to reconsider the objections in the interest of the students and the fact that the CUET was being conducted for the first time.

“However, the Court has been assured that in future, this would not happen and that any exercise of consideration of objections to the provisional answer key would be undertaken only prior to the final result of the examination of the CUET. The Court has also been assured that the final answer key would be uploaded on the website of the NTA at least a day prior to the final declaration of result, though it would be accessible only through the individual login ID and password of the candidate concerned,” the court said.

“The Court is satisfied with the explanation. The NTA is directed to ensure that these assurances are scrupulously adhered to, in future,” the court ordered.

Case Title: Ashish Gupta v. Union of India