Madras High Court directs NTA to drop FIR requirement for duplicate NEET scorecards, permits FMGE applicants to upload documents till October 21

The petitioner appeared for NEET-UG 2021 conducted by the National Testing Agency (“NTA”) under Roll No. 4106003292 and Application No. 210410687732 and allegedly secured 145 marks.

She subsequently pursued and completed her MBBS course at Osh State University, Kyrgyzstan, in 2026.

To apply for the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (“FMGE”), she was required to produce her NEET-UG 2021 scorecard, which was unavailable through the online portal.

She therefore sought a duplicate/certified copy of the scorecard or certification of the relevant examination details from the NTA, and consequential directions to the National Medical Commission and the National Board of Examination in Medical Sciences to accept the certified details for her FMGE application.

During the proceedings, the NTA relied on its official memorandum dated 17 September 2026, which prescribed an online procedure for obtaining duplicate NEET scorecards.

Clause 5.1(c) required production of a police report or, in cases involving loss abroad, attestation by the concerned Indian Embassy or Consulate.

Whether the NTA should be directed to issue a duplicate or certified copy of the petitioner’s NEET-UG 2021 scorecard, or certify the examination details available in its database, for the purpose of her FMGE application

Whether the requirement under Clause 5.1(c) of the NTA’s memorandum dated 17 September 2026—requiring a police report or Indian Embassy/Consulate attestation regarding loss of the scorecard—should be dispensed with for candidates seeking duplicate scorecards

Whether FMGE applicants should be permitted to make corrections and upload additional documents on the online portal after the application deadline of 25 September 2026

The Court exercised its jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India to issue appropriate directions to public authorities where an administrative requirement impeded access to a statutory or regulatory examination process

It applied the principle that procedural requirements imposed by an authority must be reasonably capable of compliance and should not operate disproportionately against candidates, particularly foreign-educated medical students who may face practical difficulty obtaining police reports or consular attestations abroad

The Court also relied on the NTA’s official memorandum dated 17 September 2026 as the governing administrative framework for issuing duplicate NEET scorecards, while modifying the operation of Clause 5.1(c) in the circumstances presented

The Court accepted that the NTA maintained the relevant NEET-UG 2021 records and that the petitioner required authenticated examination details to complete her FMGE application

Although the NTA had created a mechanism for issuing duplicate scorecards, the Court found that Clause 5.1(c) imposed an impractical burden on candidates who had studied abroad, since obtaining a police report or consular attestation regarding loss of documents could be difficult and time-consuming

Accordingly, the Court directed the NTA to dispense with that clause while retaining the requirement that applicants submit all other documents prescribed under the memorandum.

In view of the conflicting understanding regarding whether the post-deadline portal facility permitted only corrections or also document uploads, the Court expressly clarified that applicants must be allowed to make corrections and upload additional documents until 21 October 2026

It further directed the respondents to keep the online portal open until 21 October 2026 for both correction of applications and uploading of additional documents, thereby protecting the petitioner’s and similarly placed candidates’ ability to complete their FMGE applications.

The writ petition was disposed of without costs