Mumbai: Due to a “positive approach” of the Union of India and the National Testing Agency (NTA), an 18-year-old NEET-UG aspirant from Maharashtra will be able to appear for the examination on June 6 along with students from Manipur, as she could not complete her exam in May due to an accident at the exam centre, which resulted in a wrist dislocation.
A division bench of Justices Manish Pitale and Neela Gokhale on Thursday allowed Dhanashree Jagatap, a resident of Solapur, to appear for NEET-UG, subject to further orders in the petition and that she shall not claim any equity in that regard.
Affect of Manipur violence
Although the exam is conducted only once a year, this year due to the sudden outbreak of violence in Manipur it is being separately held for Manipuri students.
Jagatap had approached the HC seeking direction to the respondents that she be permitted to appear for the exam along with the students of Manipur.
Jagatap had appeared for the exam on May 7. However, at the exam centre, due to a rush in the queue, she fell on her right hand and dislocated her wrist. She was taken to a nearby nursing home, where it was confirmed that she had suffered a wrist dislocation.
She reported back to the exam centre at 1pm. The exam was from 2pm to 5.20pm.
Since the superintendent and supervisor of NTA present at the centre had witnessed the accident, she was provided with a writer at 3.40pm. She claims that she was assured that she will be given a full 3 hours and 20 minutes for writing her exam.
Next hearing on June 26
Her advocates Madhav Thorat, Amar Bodke and Aninash Bailmare said that she was allowed to appear in the examination only till 5:20 pm. As a consequence, she could not attempt the entire paper. As per the rules, a person with a writer has to be given an extra 1 hour and 5 minutes in addition to the regular exam time.
She raised her grievance with the respondents, but to no avail. Hence she filed the petition.
On instructions, advocates for the Union and NTA, Shehnaz Bharucha, Rui Rodrigues and AA Ansari, said that Jagatap will be permitted to appear for the exam on June 6 afresh and that she shall not in any manner rely upon the attempt made in the May 7 exam.
The HC has allowed Jagatap to appear for the exam at Bangalore and clarified that this order shall not be considered as a precedent for any other cases.
The HC has kept the matter for further consideration on June 26.
