New Delhi, June 12, 2024: The Supreme Court was informed by the Centre on Thursday that the grace marks awarded to 1,563 students in the National Eligibility-Cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG) conducted on May 5 will be cancelled, according to a report by Live Law. This decision was communicated during the hearing of several petitions alleging question paper leaks, arbitrary awarding of grace marks, and other irregularities in the entrance exam conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for undergraduate medical admissions.
Advocate Kanu Agarwal, representing the Centre, told a vacation bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta that the affected candidates will receive their actual scores without the previously awarded grace marks. These students will have the option to either appear for a re-examination or retain their original scores minus the grace marks.
A panel formed by the NTA on June 8 reviewed the grievances and decided to cancel the compensatory marks to address the concerns of the students. The panel noted that the grace marks, given due to a loss of time, created a skewed situation as the compensation was limited to unattempted questions.
The NTA, represented by Senior Advocate Naresh Kaushik, indicated that the re-examination is likely to be held on June 23, with results expected by June 30, ensuring that the counselling process scheduled to begin on July 6 can proceed without delays.
The court also set aside a petition challenging the grant of grace marks. The NEET-UG results, announced on June 4, had faced backlash from several aspirants who alleged that inflated marks led to 67 candidates securing the top rank, including six from the same exam centre. Allegations of question paper leaks were also made, but the NTA denied these claims, attributing the high ranks to a revised physics answer key and compensatory marks for lost writing time.
Three petitions were filed before the Supreme Court regarding the NEET-UG irregularities. The first claimed that the NTA’s decision to award grace marks was arbitrary. The court resolved the grace marks issue but left other grievances pending. A second petition sought the annulment of the results and a fresh examination, alleging malafide intentions behind the grace marks to provide “backdoor entry” to some students. The third petition contested the awarding of grace marks as compensation for the alleged loss of time during the exam.
The Supreme Court has sought responses from the Centre and the NTA on another petition alleging question paper leaks and other irregularities, with further hearings scheduled for July 8. However, the court has refused to stay the counselling process.
