Fabrication of NEET Score Card Leads to Dismissal and Criminal Investigation: Madras High Court

In a stern rebuke against academic dishonesty, the Madras High Court has dismissed a writ petition filed by a candidate seeking admission to various medical courses based on a manipulated NEET (UG) 2025 scorecard. The court did not merely reject the petition but initiated a criminal referral, ordering an investigation into the forgery of official government documents.

The Disputed Score

The petitioner, a 21-year-old student, had approached the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, seeking a Writ of Mandamus to compel authorities to include him in the counselling process for BSMS/BAMS/BUMS/BHMS courses. He claimed to have secured 478 marks out of 720, with an All India Rank of 176,174.

The student’s grievance arose when he discovered his name was omitted from the provisional seat allotment list, while others with similar or lower scores had been allotted seats. Upon reviewing his portal, he noted his score was reflected as 132—an amount he claimed was unilaterally changed without notice.

The Court's Investigation

When the court intervened, it directed the Additional Solicitor General to verify the records. The evidence presented by the first respondent proved damning. QR codes on the petitioner’s submitted documents linked directly to an official score of 132, rather than the 478 marks claimed. Furthermore, the OMR sheet and calculation records confirmed that the petitioner had correctly answered only 49 questions, resulting in the actual score of 132.

The court concluded that the petitioner had presented a tampered document, failing to realize that while the numbers on a screen can be visually altered through illicit means, the underlying QR-coded data—managed by the examination authority—remained intact.

Key Observations

The High Court’s ruling emphasized that approaching the judiciary with fabricated evidence renders the entire petition void.

> "It is clear from the above that the document styled as the score card ... is a fabricated document. The tampering has taken place in the column ‘total marks obtained’."

> "The petitioner has approached this Court with unclean hands and has based his claim on a forged and fabricated document."

> "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."

Final Judgment and Implications

The impact of this ruling is two-fold. First, the court dismissed the petition for lacking merit, noting that there is no case for a petitioner founded upon forgery. Second, the court imposed a significant cost of Rs. 25,000, payable to the Chief Justice Relief Fund.

Most significantly, the court ordered the 4th respondent to file a formal complaint with the jurisdictional police. This mandate ensures that the investigation will not stop at the petitioner; the court specifically tasked authorities with uncovering the "culprit behind the tampering." Additionally, the court noted that the petitioner faces a three-year debarment from taking the NEET examination, serving as a reminder that the judicial system will not tolerate attempts to undermine the integrity of nationwide competitive examinations through fraud.