SC asks NTA to rectify injustice met to disabled student, whose answer sheet was taken away in NEET
New Delhi, Nov 23: Coming to the aid of a disabled female student, suffering from dysgraphia, who was not granted an additional hour of compensatory time in NEET (UG) examination and her answer sheet was forcefully taken away, the Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the National Testing Agency (NTA) to consider taking steps to rectify the injustice done to her within one week.
Dysgraphia causes impaired handwriting and demonstrates inconsistent handwriting, poor spelling and spacing, transcription difficulties, and incoherence.
The top court said individual injustices originating in a wrongful denial of rights and entitlements prescribed under the law cannot be sent into oblivion on the ground that these are a necessary consequence of a competitive examination.
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna, however, refused to grant the relief to the student, who has been diagnosed with a 40 per cent permanent disability, for holding re-examination for the NEET (UG).
The appellant was wrongfully deprived of compensatory time of one hour while appearing for the NEET without any fault of her own, despite her entitlements as a Person with Disabilities (PwD) and a Person with Benchmark Disability (PwBD). Accordingly, the first respondent (NTA) is directed to consider what steps could be taken to rectify the injustice within a period of one week. Further, it shall take necessary consequential measures under intimation to the DGHS, it said.
It said the steps taken by the NTA in furtherance of the court's direction must be communicated to the Registry of this Court by filing a status report within two weeks.
Justice Chandrachud, who penned the verdict said, It is no answer for an authority bound by the dicta of law and the Constitution, to throw up its hands in despair, instead of attempting to remedy the injustice which is caused to a student. A judge cannot ignore that behind the statistics is a human face, reflecting the aspirations, joy, and tears of a student and her family .
The bench noted the girl student has secured an All India Rank of 1721 out of 2684 candidates qualified in the PwD category and concerning Maharashtra she has secured rank 249 out of 390 candidates in the PwD category.
The NTA has stated that approximately 15.4 lakh candidates appeared at the NEET (UG) 2021 on September 12, 2021, for which the result was declared on November 1, 2021, and the All India Rank was forwarded on November 9, 2021, to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to conduct counselling for admission.
The bench said the NTA, as an examining body, was bound to scrupulously enforce the Guidelines for Written Examinations which provides for specific relaxations.
The appellant has suffered an injustice by a wrongful denial of these relaxations and a lack of remedy by this Court would cause irretrievable injustice to the life of the student. The Rights of Persons With Disabilities (RwPD) Act 2016 prescribing beneficial provisions for persons with specified disabilities would have no meaning unless it is scrupulously enforced, it said.
It added, In our view, the first respondent (NTA) cannot be allowed to simply get away when confronted with the situation in hand whereby injustice has been caused to a student by standing behind the situation of a large competitive examination .
The bench noted the NTA's submissions that in an examination of such large proportions where over 16 lakh students registered and over 15 lakh students appeared, it would not be possible to undo the injustice which has been done to a single candidate.
The first respondent (NTA) must remember that all authority under the law is subject to the responsibility, and above all, to a sense of accountability. The first respondent is governed by the rule of law and by the constitutional requirement of observing fairness. Behind the abstract number of 15 lakh students' lie human lives that can be altered due to the inadvertent, yet significant errors of the first respondent, it said.
The bench said in the present case, the student had sought a re-examination where she would be allowed compensatory time as mandated by the Guidelines for Written Examination and the NEET Bulletin 2021.
We are in agreement with the view that holding a fresh examination is neither practicable nor proper. Holding a fresh examination will delay medical admissions and cause uncertainty and chaos. To that extent, the denial of the relief sought for conducting a fresh examination for the appellant is not disturbed, it said.
The bench said, This Court would eschew the course of dictating the manner in which the grievance should be rectified, leaving it to the discretion of the testing agency which is entrusted with the overall responsibility of conducting the examination In the present case, we are of the categorical view that the first respondent cannot shirk or abrogate its responsibility to rectify the injustice which has been caused to the appellant .
The bench said for effective participation of the students with disabilities in the society, which undoubtedly is the salutary object of the legislation, the safeguards which are provided by the law must be duly enforced and any breach of entitlement must be answerable at law.
Responsibility and power without accountability are an anathema to our Constitution, it said, adding the number of cases where such injustices take place maybe a few or more than that but it cannot be ignored that for a student who is made to suffer, the consequence is indeed serious.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
===================
The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
