A petition has been filed before the Supreme Court of India alleging irregularities in the recently announced results of the National Entrance cum Eligibility Test (NEET) for undergraduate medical admissions. The petitioners are requesting that the NEET-UG 2024 results be annulled and a new examination be conducted.
The petition claims that the allocation of grace marks was arbitrary, noting that scores of 718 and 719 out of 720 achieved by several students are "statistically impossible." It suggests that the National Testing Agency (NTA) unfairly awarded grace marks due to exam delays, allegedly to provide certain students with "backdoor entry."
Concerns were also raised about 67 students from one center receiving perfect scores of 720, and multiple complaints were cited regarding the provisional answer key released by the NTA on April 29.
Additionally, the petitioners referenced widespread complaints of a question paper leak from the May 5 exam. Two previous petitions have already been filed in the Supreme Court seeking cancellation of the test due to this leak. While the Supreme Court issued a notice on May 17 for one of these petitions, it did not halt the results' declaration.
The current petition was filed by Mr. Abdullah Mohammed Faiz and Dr. Shaik Roshan Mohiddin, natives of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, respectively, and members of the Student Islamic Organisation (SIO), who claim to work for students' welfare.
The petition also requests a halt to the NEET-UG 2024 counseling process until the alleged paper leak is investigated and calls for the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to examine the alleged exam malpractices.
In response, the NTA and the Union Education Ministry announced the formation of a four-member committee to review the results of over 1,500 candidates who were awarded grace marks to compensate for exam delays.
Recently, the Calcutta High Court also sought the NTA's response to a plea alleging exam irregularities.
Source: Live Law