Kochi: The Kerala High Court has sought an explanation from the National Testing Agency after a petition sought a retest of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for those candidates who had lost 30 minutes due to the confusion over the distribution of booklets.

The petition filed by Devika R Mohan, a resident of Kochi, stated that the glitch at the exam centre would affect the admission prospects. Justice P B Suresh Kumar will consider the petition next week.

The petitioner had written the exam at the Sree Narayana Public School at Poothotta. The booklet, which was first given to her, was taken back and she was given another. But someone had already written on that booklet.

As she had to strike out those answers and write, there are concerns if the computer software would reject it. The petition sought for a probe into the glitch at the exam centre, and to conduct a retest for the petitioner and those candidates at the same class who faced a similar issue. It also sought to issue a directive for the evaluation of the answer sheet.

Though the booklets were to be distributed 15 minutes in advance, it was not done. The booklets were given exactly at 2pm, but the invigilator instructed not to enter the roll number or other details as there was confusion. The booklet was taken back after 10 minutes and she was given another booklet, which had the roll number and name of another candidate. Some bubbles in the OMR sheet were also marked. Even the roll number had to be corrected.

The petitioner said that she had to write the 3-hour exam in 2.5 hours. In between this, the invigilator wrote the initial on the booklet.

The copy of the corrected sheet has also been submitted.