As per media reports, Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah, part of the two-judge bench reviewing the petition told the NTA counsel “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’s remarks came as scores of NEET aspirants staged protests across the country, alleging paper leaks and other irregularities in this year’s NEET results. Furthermore, many students and stakeholders are concerned about a paper leak and alleged irregularities in the awarding of grace marks to approximately 1,500 students, with prominent political leaders as well as the Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra state governments expressing concern.
NEET UG 2024 Counselling to continue
The bench, headed by Justice Vikram Nath, refused to halt the counselling process and connected the petition with another one scheduled for 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 stated in response to Senior Advocate Mathews J Nedumpara’s plea to halt the counselling, as he represented the petitioners.
NEET UG re-exam for the 1543 candidates on the cards?
Media reports indicate that students who had received the grace-marks might be given the option to either accept their raw scores (before normalisation and addition of grace marks) or take a retest.
The four-member panel which was constituted by the Ministry of Education earlier, and is said to be headed by a former UPSC Chairman, is expected to submit its report within the next few days.
NTA clarifies transparency in the NEET UG exam 2024 evaluation process
The inflation of marks for 1,543 students from six centres who ‘lost time during exams’ resulted in an unprecedented 67 candidates receiving a perfect score of 720 out of 720. The fact that six of these toppers came from the same centre in Haryana’s Jhajjar has added to the controversy. The NTA has denied any irregularities, claiming that the grace marks in question will be reviewed by a four-member panel formed by the Centre.
The National Testing Agency (NTA) clarified the transparency in the NEET UG 2024 examination process and addressed cases of unfair means. The NTA stated that the results of their examinations, including NEET UG, are declared promptly after completing necessary checks post the Answer Key challenge period. They mentioned that they had managed to declare the results for approximately 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 Session-2 and Session-1 were declared in 15 days. The NTA emphasized that the NEET UG 2024 results were processed as per their established procedures.
The NTA outlined their procedure for maintaining transparency across all their examinations. This includes sharing necessary information with candidates through Advance City Intimation, Admit Cards, Advisories for examination, displaying scanned copies of OMRs and recorded responses, inviting objections to Provisional Answer Keys, publishing Final Answer Keys on the official website, and sending scanned OMR Answer Sheets and Score Cards via email.
How NTA dealt with NEET UG 2024 UFM Cases
Regarding action taken in Unfair Means (UFM) cases, the NTA stated that these actions were in accordance with existing rules, including the cancellation of candidature and debarment from future NTA examinations. They mentioned that cases had been registered against impersonators and that some cases were being handled by the State Police. The NTA has been supporting these agencies in investigating cases related to NEET UG 2024. While the outcomes of these investigations are still awaited, the NTA categorically denied any case of paper leak and reiterated that the integrity of the examination was not compromised.
Check the official notice here.
