The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought seeks response of National Testing Agency on plea seeking fresh NEET-UG, 2024 on grounds of 'paper leak' and other 'malpractices'. A fresh petition was filed in the Supreme Court on Monday to recall the National Entrance cum Eligibility Test - Under Graduate (NEET-UG) 2024 results and re-conduct fresh examination citing discrepancies in the declared results.
The top court on Tuesday also refused to stay counselling process for admissions in MBBS and other courses for successful candidates. Posting the matter on July 8 along with a similar plea, the Supreme Court Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Ahsanuddin Amanullah told NTA, "Sanctity has been affected, so we need answers," the bench tells NTA.
The petition was filed by Abdullah Mohammed Faiz and Dr Shaik Roshan Mohiddin, natives of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh who work for students in the states, as per an indiatoday.in report.
They alleged discrepancies in grant of grace marks, saying the high marks of 718 and 719 are statistically impossible.
The NTA, which conducts the NEET, on Saturday said the education ministry has set up a four-member panel to review the grace marks awarded to more than 1,500 candidates. The move came amid allegations of inflation of marks leading to 67 candidates sharing the first rank in the NEET-UG medical entrance exam.
Of the 67 candidates who shared the first rank in the exam, eight were from the same centre in Haryana. More than 24 lakh candidates had registered for the exam this year.
The NTA has denied any irregularities and said the changes made in National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbooks and grace marks for losing time at the examination centres were some of the reasons behind the students scoring higher marks.
The issue has also taken a political turn with several parties raising concerns about the authenticity of the national exam for medical courses.
The result of the medical entrance exam was announced on June 4 and thereafter aspirants have been alleging multiple issues, including irregularities in the test demanding a fresh examination.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday attacked the Centre over the NEET-UG medical entrance row and said the government will have to take "serious steps" to correct "irregularities" in examinations.
In a post in Hindi on X, Priyanka Gandhi said, "Lakhs of children prepare hard for exams like NEET and spend the most precious moments of their lives preparing for it. The whole family puts their faith and strength in this effort. But year after year, paper leaks and irregularities related to results have been reported in these exams."
Shouldn't the accountability of the agencies conducting the exams be fixed, she asked. "Shouldn't the government give up its careless attitude and seriously focus on the exam system? We cannot see the dreams of our young friends being shattered like this. This injustice by the system to their hard work must stop," Priyanka Gandhi said.
The government will have to take serious steps to correct these "irregularities", she said.
