In a significant development, the Supreme Court has sought responses from the Center and the National Testing Agency (NTA) regarding a plea seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into alleged irregularities and paper leaks in the NEET-UG 2024 examination.
A vacation bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, which was hearing a PIL filed by Hiten Singh Kashyap, also sought responses from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Bihar government within two weeks.
It said the PIL will also be taken up with other pending ones on July 8, when the top court will start functioning after the summer vacation.
The Center and the National Testing Agency (NTA) had on Thursday told the Supreme Court they had cancelled the grace marks given to 1,563 candidates who took the examination for admission to MBBS and other such courses.
They will have the option to either take a re-test or forgo the compensatory marks awarded to them for the loss of time, the center said.
The examination was held on May 5 across 4,750 centers, and around 24 lakh candidates appeared for it. The results were expected to be declared on June 14 but were announced on June 4, apparently because the evaluation of the answer sheets was completed earlier.
There have been allegations of question paper leaks in states like Bihar and other irregularities in the prestigious exam.
The allegations have led to protests in several cities and the filing of cases in seven high courts as well as the Supreme Court.
The NEET-UG examination is conducted by the NTA for admission to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country.
Here are the details:
Background of paper leaks and other irregularities surfaced following the NEET-UG exam.
- The controversy erupted after reports of question paper leaks and other irregularities surfaced following the NEET-UG exam.
- The NTA initially planned to award grace marks to 1,563 students who were not given the full allotted time to complete the test due to mismanagement.
- However, the NTA later withdrew this decision and announced a re-test for the affected candidates.
Court’s Action
- The Supreme Court issued notices to the Center and the NTA, granting them two weeks to submit their responses.
- Advocate Kanu Aggarwal informed the bench that the NTA revoked its earlier decision on grace marks and scheduled a re-test for June 23.
- The results of the re-test will be announced on June 30 to ensure a smooth counseling process starting on July 6.
- Candidates who choose not to appear for the re-test will retain their original marks.
Way Forward
- The NEET-UG entrance test, conducted across 4,750 centers in 571 cities (including 14 cities abroad), faced scrutiny due to the alleged irregularities.
- The court’s intervention seeks accountability and transparency in the examination process.
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Nikhil Malhotra 
