The National Testing Agency (NTA) responds to concerns over the ₹200 per-question fee required to challenge an answer key. NTA says the charge is meant to curb frivolous or baseless objections and to prevent delays in preparing results.
NTA states that challenges that are found to be valid are reviewed by subject experts. If an objection is upheld, any accepted correction to the answer key is applied to all candidates, not only to the person who raised the challenge. In that situation, NTA says the fee is refunded when an objection is accepted.
Across reports, both outlets present the same core explanation from NTA: the fee is part of the agency’s answer-key review mechanism and is intended to balance candidate scrutiny with timely result processing. NDTV specifically highlights concerns about the fee being “too expensive,” while NTA’s reasoning remains focused on discouraging non-genuine complaints and ensuring any confirmed errors are corrected for the full examinee pool.
