The Centre has informed the Supreme Court about its decision to cancel the scorecards of 1,563 National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) undergraduate exam 2024 candidates, who were given grace marks amid allegations of unfair practices during the exam. A committee from the National Testing Agency (NTA) conveyed to the court that these candidates will be offered the choice to take a retest on June 23.
On Thursday, the Central government informed the Supreme Court that candidates who were deprived of the allocated time to complete the NEET-UG 2024 exam for medical college admissions will have the option to either retake the exam or forego the grace marks they were given earlier due to time constraints.
The NTA confirmed the re-test will occur on June 23 with results by June 30, followed by medical college counselling starting on July 6. The Court has solicited responses from the Centre and NTA regarding allegations of misconduct in NEET-UG 2024, but it declined to halt ongoing counselling processes.
This action follows uproar over a large number of candidates scoring perfectly in the test. Simultaneously, the Supreme Court is hearing petitions to annul the NEET UG 2024 exam due to controversy surrounding the allocation of grace marks to over 1500 students. In response to the allegations, the Centre stated that the affected candidates will have the option to take a retest to ensure fairness.
The committee, led by a former UPSC chairman, discussed in initial meetings the possibility of offering these candidates a retest or accepting their original "non-normalised" scores before the addition of grace marks. Compensation for lost exam time was provided based on a mechanism established by the court in 2018.
The Centre also outlined the steps taken, including committee meetings to investigate and the subsequent decision to cancel affected candidates' scorecards and arrange a re-examination. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has affirmed its decision to continue NEET-UG 2024 counselling.
Advocate J Sai Deepak, representing petitioner Alakh Pandey, founder of PhysicsWallah, raised concerns that while some candidates may benefit from a re-test, others not involved in the case might have issues. However, the Bench stated it couldn't broaden the case to include those not before the Court. Nevertheless, the Court instructed the NTA to respond to allegations of unfair practices in the NEET by filing a reply before July 8, the next hearing date.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court has detected a lapse in the integrity of NEET-UG 2024 and has asked for feedback from the Centre and NTA regarding a request for a new exam due to allegations of question paper leaks and misconduct. However, the Court decided not to stop the counselling process for successful candidates in MBBS, BDS, and similar courses.
