NEET-UG row: Even 0.001% negligence should be dealt with, says SC

The Supreme Court on Tuesday told the central government and the National Testing Agency (NTA) to ensure that even a "0.001 per cent negligence" in conducting the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2024 exam is “thoroughly dealt with”.

The division bench, comprising Justice Vikram Nath and Justice SVN Bhatti, was hearing two separate petitions, including on grace marks given to students in the examination held on May 5.

“Representing an agency which is responsible for conducting the examination, you must stand firm. If there is a mistake, yes this is a mistake and this is the action we are going to take. At least that inspires confidence in your performance,” the bench told the NTA’s counsel.

 

Stressing on timely action by the authority, the top court said the pleas would come up for hearing on July 8 along with other pending petitions, including those which have sought a direction to conduct the exam afresh.

 

The observations come after the Centre on Thursday told the apex court that grace marks of 1,563 NEET-UG candidates will be scrapped, and that they have been given the option to appear for a re-test on June 23. 

The medical entrance examination was taken by around 2.4 million students across 4,750 centres across the country. As many as 67 students scored a perfect score of 720, unprecedented in the NTA’s history, with six from a single centre in Faridabad figuring in the list, raising suspicions about rigging.

Allegations such as the question paper leak and the grant of grace marks to over 1,500 medical aspirants led to protests and the filing of cases in seven high courts and the Supreme Court.

Many student organisations have protested over the alleged NEET irregularities, including wrong question papers being distributed, Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets being torn, or delays in the distribution of the sheets.

While Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had initially denied the possibility of a paper leak, he vowed the “harshest punishment” for those found guilty in the NEET controversy amid suspicions of irregularities at two locations.

Speaking to the media on Sunday, Pradhan said that even if the big officials of the NTA are found guilty, they will not be spared.

The Education Ministry did not respond to Business Standard’s queries on the top court’s observations till the time of going to print.