'Can't Be Dealt With Lightly': Madras High Court Orders Probe Into Alleged Fabrication Of NEET-UG Score For Admission

Justice Anand Venkatesh held that the issue "cannot be lightly dealt with" and an investigation has to be necessarily conducted. Apart from disqualifying and debarring the candidate, the court also opined that a police investigation was necessary and stringent action had to be taken to prevent its recurrence in the future.

“Apart from the disqualification from taking the NEET examination, police investigation has to be necessarily conducted to find out the culprit behind the tempering of the score card that was produced by the petitioner while applying for admission. Only such stringent action will prevent its recurrence in future,” the court said.

The court was hearing a plea by a candidate seeking direction to the Selection Committee, the Directorate of Indian Medicine and Homeopathy to call him for counselling and to allot him a seat in a suitable college for admission into the BSMS/BAMS/BUMS/BHMS courses for the academic session 2025-26 on the basis of his original NEET score.

The petitioner submitted that he had secured 478 marks out of 720 with a corresponding All India Rank of 176174. It was submitted that he fell under the category of OBC NCL. The petitioner argued that his score was shown as 132 and such a drastic reduction was done without notice.

The Additional Solicitor General, however, submitted that a QR code was available in the paper book and, when scanned, it showed only 132 marks secured by the candidate. The ASG also produced the OMR sheet and pointed out that the candidate had answered 49 questions correctly and 64 questions incorrectly.

The court thus noted that the document produced by the petitioner as a score card was a fabricated document and there was tampering in the column for total marks obtained.

The court observed that the petitioner had approached the court with unclean hands and had based his claim on a forged and fabricated document. The court remarked that the conduct of the petitioner and everyone involved with him suffered from moral turpitude which could not be taken lightly.

“It is quite evident that the petitioner has approached this Court with unclean hands and has based his claim on a forged and fabricated document. It is true that the petitioner is aged about 21 years. However, there must be some one behind the petitioner, who has indulged in tampering with the score card. Prima facie this Court is of the view that the act of the petitioner and every one who are involved along with the petitioner, suffers from moral turpitude. This cannot be lightly dealt with and an investigation has to be necessarily conducted,” the court said.

Finding no merits in the plea, the court dismissed the same with a cost of Rs. 25,000 to be paid to the Chief Justice Relief Fund. The court also directed the Selection Committee to give a formal complaint to the concerned jurisdictional police, along with a copy of the order. The court also directed the police to register an FIR based on the complaint and conduct an inquiry to find out the actual culprits behind the fabrication and forgery of the document.

Counsel for Petitioner: Mr. Abhinav Parthasarathy

Counsel for Respondents: Mr.A.R.L.Sundaresan Additional Solicitor General of India Assisted by Ms.Sunitha, Standing Counsel, Ms.Shubharanjani Ananth, Mr.K.Ramanamoorthy, Learned Senior Panel Counsel, Mrs.M.Sneha, Mr.K.Tippusultan, Govt. Advocate

Case Title: D. Mohammed Nadeem v. The National Testing Agency and Others

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Mad) 404

Case No: WP No. 39755 of 2025