The Supreme Court has called for a response from the National Testing Agency following a plea requesting the annulment of the 2024 National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET)-UG due to allegations of a “paper leak” and other irregularities, reported Indian Express.
The court declined to halt the counseling process for MBBS and other programs despite this request.
The plea, lodged by Shivangi Mishra and nine others on June 1, challenges the integrity of the NEET-UG exam, which has been in the spotlight since the announcement of results on June 4. Concerns have been raised, particularly regarding the policy on grace marks.
Central to the controversy is the unprecedented number of candidates scoring a perfect 720/720, or very close to it, raising doubts about the exam’s fairness. While only two candidates achieved the top rank last year, this year saw 67, sparking skepticism.
44 of the top scorers had answered a basic physics question incorrectly, yet received “grace marks” due to an error in an outdated version of the NCERT Class 12 textbook.
Moreover, discrepancies arose between the provisional answer key released by the NTA on May 29 and information found in the textbook, prompting over 13,000 candidates to challenge the key.
Questions also surfaced regarding the plausibility of scores such as 718 and 719, given the maximum achievable score of 720.
The NTA addressed this by stating that some candidates, including six of the top scorers, received compensatory marks for time lost during the exam.