On Tuesday, the Supreme Court addressed a petition about canceling the NEET UG 2024 exam, saying the “sanctity of the exam has been affected.” They asked the NTA for an explanation.
According to media reports, Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah, part of the two-judge panel reviewing the petition, told the NTA lawyer, “It’s not so simple that because you have done it, it’s sacrosanct. We need answers for that. The sanctity has been affected. So we need answers.”
The court made these comments as many NEET aspirants protested across the country, claiming paper leaks and other problems with this year’s NEET results. Concerns also arose about the alleged leak and the awarding of grace marks to about 1,500 students. Political leaders and the state governments of Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra also expressed their worries.
NEET UG 2024 Counselling to Continue
The bench, led by Justice Vikram Nath, decided not to stop the counselling process and connected this petition with another one set for a hearing on July 8, overseen by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud.
“We’ll allow the counselling to proceed. There will be no stay on the counselling,” Justice Nath said in response to Senior Advocate Mathews J Nedumpara’s request to stop the counselling as he represented the petitioners.
NEET UG Re-exam for 1,543 Candidates?
Media reports suggest that students who received grace marks might be given a choice to either accept their raw scores (before normalization and grace marks) or retake the exam.
A four-member panel, created by the Ministry of Education and led by a former UPSC Chairman, is expected to submit its report soon.
NTA Clarifies NEET UG 2024 Evaluation Process
The inflation of marks for 1,543 students from six centers, who ‘lost time during exams,’ led to an unprecedented 67 candidates scoring a perfect 720 out of 720.
The fact that six of these top scorers came from the same center in Haryana’s Jhajjar added to the controversy. The NTA denied any irregularities, saying that the grace marks issue would be reviewed by a four-member panel set up by the government.
The NTA clarified the transparency of the NEET UG 2024 evaluation process. They mentioned that they announce results promptly after necessary checks post the Answer Key challenge period. They highlighted that they managed to declare results for about 23 lakh candidates within 30 days.
Additionally, the results for JEE Main 2024 Session-1 were declared in 11 days, and the combined results for Sessions 1 and 2 were declared in 15 days. The NTA emphasized that the NEET UG 2024 results were processed according to their procedures.
How NTA Dealt with NEET UG 2024 Unfair Means Cases
Regarding actions taken in Unfair Means (UFM) cases, the NTA said these actions followed existing rules, including canceling candidatures and banning candidates from future NTA exams. They mentioned that cases had been registered against impersonators and that some cases were being handled by the State Police.
The NTA is supporting these agencies in investigating NEET UG 2024-related cases. While investigation outcomes are still awaited, the NTA denied any paper leak and reiterated that the exam’s integrity was not compromised.