New Delhi: The Supreme Court vacation bench, on Tuesday, rejected requests for urgent hearings of fresh petitions regarding discrepancies in the NEET-UG results 2024. The court is yet to address the listed petition seeking cancellation and re-examination due to allegations of a paper leak.
Advocate J Sai Deepak brought forth a new petition challenging the NEET results before the vacation bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Ahsanuddin Amanullah. Despite several separate petitions filed over the grant of ‘grace marks’ to more than 1500 students due to exam delays, the bench declined to consolidate these with the listed plea against NEET-UG results set for later in the day.
Petitioners have argued that the allocation of grace marks was arbitrary, noting statistical improbabilities in students scoring exceptionally high marks, such as 718 and 719 out of 720. They also raised concerns about 67 students from a single center obtaining full marks and complaints regarding the provisional answer key published on April 29 by NTA.
Furthermore, the petitions highlighted widespread allegations of question paper leaks during the exam held on May 5. In response, petitioners seek to halt NEET-UG 2024 admissions counseling until investigations into the alleged leaks are concluded, and they demand the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) for this purpose.
While the NTA and Union Education Ministry announced a four-member committee to review results for over 1,500 candidates awarded grace marks, the Supreme Court reiterated its stance against hearing these petitions urgently. The court directed counsel to approach the Registry for listing, emphasizing its lack of authority to expedite such matters.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a petition regarding the cancellation of NEET-UG 2024 exam results and re-examination due to alleged paper leaks later today. Previously, on May 17, the court issued notice on a similar petition but declined to stay the results.
