SC Upholds NEET UG 2024 Counselling; 1,563 Candidates To Face Retest

In a significant development concerning the NEET UG 2024 examination, the Supreme Court reiterated on Thursday its decision not to intervene with the ongoing admission counselling process for medical programmes.

This decision comes amidst allegations of paper leak and other irregularities surrounding the recently conducted exam.

Justice Vikram Nath, heading a vacation bench, has disclosed that his bench has now withdrawn and cancelled the scorecards of 1,563 candidates who initially received compensatory marks due to loss of time.

Representing the National Testing Agency (NTA), counsel informed the bench that these candidates have the option to appear for a re-test scheduled tentatively for 23 June.

Importantly, the counselling schedule will proceed as planned because authorities expect to declare the results from the re-test by 30 June.

NTA further clarified that they would communicate the actual marks obtained by the 1,563 candidates directly, without normalization adjustments.

Candidates opting out of the re-test will have their results based on these actual marks considered final, as per the submissions made to the bench, which also included Justice Sandeep Mehta.

Consequently, the Supreme Court decided to conclude discussions on the issue of granting grace marks in the NEET UG exam.

However, it issued notices to the NTA and other concerned parties in response to a plea seeking the cancellation of the NEET exam conducted on 5 May.

This matter has been tagged with pending petitions scheduled for a hearing on 8 July.

Call For Investigation

Several petitions have urged the apex court to promptly order a thorough investigation into alleged malpractices and fraud associated with the NEET examination.

These petitions also seek a stay on the declaration of results until the completion of investigations into the purported paper leak.

Additionally, the petitions request the NTA to recall the results of the 5 May exam and conduct a fresh examination after issuing adequate public notice.

The Supreme Court’s stance on these issues will likely be pivotal as it continues to deliberate on the broader implications and fairness of the NEET UG 2024 examination process.

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