NEET UG 2024 controversy: Supreme Court seeks NTA's response, says sanctity of examination has been affected

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has said that the NEET UG irregularity controversy has affected the sanctity of the examination. "It is not that simple that because you have done it is sacrosanct. Sanctity has been affected, so we need answers," said the order from the vacation bench comprising Justices Vikramnath and Ahsanuddin Amanullah. The reply must be submitted by July 8, when the court opens after the mid-summer break. The case will be considered again on July 8. It was also ordered to send a notice to the central government.

A group of petitions demanding that the exam be cancelled and re-conducted due to question paper leaks were considered. The petitions had come even before the exam results were declared. When the results came out, the Grace marks controversy also surfaced. Petitions were filed by people and organisations including MSF. The doubt was raised on the grace marks of 1563 students. It was alleged in the petitions that the grace marks were awarded without following any criteria. Officials explained that grace marks were given in six centres due to a delay in issuing OMR sheets.

No stay for counselling

The court rejected the plea of ​​the petitioners to stay the medical admission counselling. The court warned that the plea will be rejected if it is argued further.

67 NEET first ranks

• NEET for MBBS and BDS admission was conducted on May 5. More than 24 lakh students appeared for the exam
• 67 people got the first rank through grace marks. Six of them are from a centre in Haryana. This is the first time in history that so many people have been ranked first
• A four-member committee chaired by the former chairman of UPSC has been constituted to evaluate the marks in these centres and recommend further action.
• The committee will recommend whether to conduct re-examination or recheck marks in these centres

Students continuing protest

Left-wing student body All India Students' Association protested in front of the National Testing Headquarters in Delhi and submitted a petition to re-conduct the exam. ABVP also protested.