GAURAV JAISWAL Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The proceedings in the matter have been conducted through video conferencing.

(2.) Learned counsel for the parties inform me that the JEE (Main) examination was conducted in January 2020, and any candidate desiring to improve his/her performance was entitled to take the examination again in September 2020. A scoresheet was issued after the January 2020 examination, reflecting the percentile in which the candidate was placed in that round. Another scoresheet, issued after the September 2020 round, contained the candidate's result in both the rounds of the JEE (Main). The eligibility of the candidate to take the JEE (Advance) examination (necessary for admission to the IITs) was dependent on the better performance between the January 2020 session and the September 2020 session. The JEE (Main) examination is a computer-based examination conducted online. Candidates mark their responses to the questions electronically on OMR (Optical Mark Recognition) sheets, which are compared with the correct answers according to the NTA answer key. Prior to the declaration of results, NTA also uploads the answer key and the OMR sheets of the candidates, to enable consideration of any challenge to the answer key.

(3.) In the present case, the petitioner claims that he was placed in the percentile 98.8105888 in the January 2020 session. The petitioner has annexed a print-out of his scoresheet as Annexure - 2 to the writ petition (at page 23 of the paper book). He contends that this was the scoresheet downloaded by him from the NTA website in January 2020.