NEET 2024 Results row: Candidates move SC seeking re-evaluation of all OMR sheets

New Delhi: Claiming serious discrepancies in the scores of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2024 examination, a group of eight candidates have filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking a complete re-evaluation of all OMR answer sheets without the application of the grace marks formula and re-assign ranks along with other demands.  

Following the explanations from the National Testing Agency (NTA) regarding the alleged irregularities, the candidates approached the apex court seeking answers to their unsolved queries and another petition has been filed to the apex court. 

Also read- NEET 2024 Controversy: NTA Urges SC To Transfer Plea On Paper Leak From High Court

As per a Live law report, the writ petition under Article 32 has been filed by eight candidates who appeared for the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEET) examination on May 5. 

In the plea, the petitioners alleged that there are several discrepancies in the NEET 2024 result following which they sought a few key demands which include, as quoted by Livelaw:

• Declaring the grant of grace marks to 1563 candidates as 'unreasonable and illegal'; 
• Complete re-evaluation of all OMR answer sheets without the application of the grace marks formula and re-assign ranks; 
• Establishment of a High-Power Committee chaired by a Retired Supreme Court Judge or High Court Judge to enquire into the alleged discrepancies in the results; 
• Formation of a forensic audit from a professional firm to 'unearth the unfair means used by candidates'

As per the Livelaw report, the petitioners pointed out several alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG 2024 results including:

• Students received different marks on their scorecards compared to their OMR sheets. These discrepancies were not due to grace marks, as these students were not from the centres where grace marks were purportedly given;
• Unprecedented inflation of cut off and average marks resulted in an unprecedented 67 candidates achieving a perfect score of 720/720 and securing the top rank which is usually 3-4 student;
• Six of these toppers are from the same exam centre in Haryana;
  
• Students have scored 718 and 719 marks, which is statistically questionable.
  
• No disclosure of method/criteria adopted for grant of Compensatory Marks for loss of time.
  
• There has been no defined logic for the grace marks given to these students and no list has been shared as per given grace marks to students.
• The provision for the grace marks due to time wastage should have been disclosed in the information bulletin before the exam, the National Testing Agency came up with the new rule after the examination which creates doubt on the authenticity of result.
  

NEET-UG is the qualifying entrance exam for admission to Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, Bachelor of Dental Surgery, Bachelor of Ayurveda, Medicine and Surgery, Bachelor of Siddha Medicine and Surgery, Bachelor of Unani Medicine and Surgery, and Bachelor of Homeopathic Medicine and Surgery and BSc Nursing courses. There are more than 80,000 MBBS seats in over 540 medical colleges in the country.

NTA conducted the (NEET-UG) for more than 24 lakh candidates at 4750 different Centres located in 571 Cities throughout the country including 14 Cities outside India on 05 May 2024 (Sunday) from 02:00 P.M. to 05:20 P.M.(IST).

Also read- NEET 2024 Paper Leak: Supreme Court Issues Notice To Centre, NTA Over Petition Seeking CBI Probe

Medical Dialogues team yesterday reported that the Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and National Testing Agency (NTA) on a plea seeking a CBI probe into allegations of question paper leak and other irregularities in the exam. 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 Centre and the National Testing Agency (NTA) recently 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 Centre had said.

This year's NEET UG 2024 exam was mired in controversies after a paper leak scam was revealed in Bihar. Around 13 people, including four examinees and their family members, were arrested in Bihar for their alleged involvement in the paper leak of the NEET-UG exam. Patna police sources had previously claimed that the NEET-UG question papers along with their answers were provided to around 20 aspirants a day before the date of the exam i.e. May 5, 2024.

Then, the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of Bihar Police, which took over the investigation, revealed that the brokers involved in the NEET paper leak scam took between Rs 30 lakh to Rs 50 lakh from each of the medical aspirants in exchange for giving them the question paper of the NEET UG 2024 question paper ahead of the examination.

Several pleas were filed in this connection against NTA alleging discrepancies in the NEET UG 2024 exam.

This year's NEET UG 2024 shocked many as 67 candidates secured AIR 1, multiple candidates from a single centre secured full marks and some also secured 718 or 719 marks out of 720 marks, which seems impossible considering the NEET marking scheme.

When NTA tried to defend the results saying that several candidates were issued grace marks to compensate for the loss of time during the exam, further questions were raised. Pleas were also filed against NTA before the Supreme Court challenging the policy of granting grace marks.

Amid the uproar, the Union Government's counsel yesterday informed the Supreme Court that the committee set up in this regard recommended withdrawing the grace marks of 1563 candidates and informing them of their original scores, obtained without the grace marks.

It has been proposed that these 1563 candidates would be given a choice of retaining their original scores (without grace marks) or appear in a retest, which will be held on 23rd June. The results of the retest will be published before 30th June, 2024 so that the NEET UG 2024 counselling could start from 6th July, 2024.