NTA should answer serious questions, says Former HRD Minister Sibal over NEET exam row, demands probe by SC-appointed officials
New Delhi: Amid the raging row over NEET this year, former HRD minister Kapil Sibal recently demanded a probe by Supreme Court-appointed officials into allegations of irregularities. He further called on the government to have a thorough consultation with all states as to how this examination is to be held in future.
In an interview with PTI, the Rajya Sabha MP said if the testing system in any examination becomes corrupt then it is "not really neat for the PM to remain silent".
Sibal urged all political parties to raise the matter strongly in the upcoming session of Parliament but was not optimistic about it being taken up for discussion, predicting that the government will not allow it citing that the matter is sub-judice.
Also Read:Fresh Plea before SC Seeks Scrapping of NEET 2024 Exam, Court-Monitored CBI Probe
"The present National Testing Agency (NTA) has really bungled and corruption has been brought to light on media platforms, such as providing solutions for question papers for something like becoming a doctor," Sibal, who was the Human Resource Development (now the portfolio is Education) minister from May 29, 2009 to October 29, 2012, said.
"Some of these incidents in Gujarat have perplexed me and are a matter of great national concern. I think NTA should answer some of these very serious questions," he told PTI.
He pointed out that the NEET regulation was introduced in 2010 by the Medical Council of India (MCI) through its board of directors. The MCI was under the ministry of health and not under the ministry of education.
"So, I as the minister of HRD had nothing to do with this. The medical council of India board of governors introduced a regulation, saying there should be a national eligibility test for students getting admitted to MBBS course. The regulation was challenged by writ petitioners and it was struck down by the Supreme Court on July 18, 2013, saying the MCI has no legislative competence to introduce NEET which is an all India eligibility entrance test," he said.
This year's NEET UG 2024 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.
Also Read: NEET Candidates paid up to Rs 50 lakhs for getting Question Papers in Advance: Bihar EOU
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.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the allegations of NEET paper leak reached the peak when 67 candidates secured All India Rank 1 in the NEET UG 2024 exam. Questions were raised about the candidates scoring 718 or 719 marks out of 720 marks as well (which is 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 recently 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. NTA has decided 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.
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