NTA won't be spared if found guilty of NEET irregularities: Union Education Minister Pradhan
Sambalpur: A few days after rejecting any paper leak claims in NEET 2024 this year, the Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has assured action against National Testing Agency (NTA) officials if they are found guilty of the ''irregularities'' in the conduct of 2024 MBBS entrance test.
Speaking to ANI on the matter, the Minister said, "On the recommendations of the Supreme Court, the order has been given for re-test of 1,563 candidates. Some irregularities have come to light in two places. I assure students and parents that the government has taken this seriously."
Improvement in NTA, which conducts NEET exam, is needed, he added.
Also Read:No Evidence Of Paper Leak In NEET 2024, says Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan
"Even if the big officials of the NTA are found guilty, they will not be spared. A lot of improvement is required in NTA. The government is concerned about this, no culprit will be spared, they will get the harshest punishment," he further said.
The NTA told the Supreme Court on Thursday that the scorecards of 1,563 candidates who got "grace marks" in the NEET-UG exam will be cancelled and the candidates will have a chance to reappear for the exam on June 23 and the results will be declared before June 30. The NTA told a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta that a committee has been constituted to review the results of over 1,563 candidates who were awarded "grace marks" to compensate for the loss of time suffered while appearing for NEET-UG.
"The Committee has decided to cancel the scorecards of 1563 NEET-UG 2024 candidates who were given grace marks and these students will be given the option to take a re-test," NTA said.
"The exam will be conducted on June 23 and the results will be declared before June 30," it added.
Many student organizations have protested over the 2024 NEET-UG exam issue. Members of the NSUI (National Students' Union of India), students' wing of the Congress, held a protest over the issue in Delhi on Saturday. further, members of the Kerala Students Union (KSU) staged a protest on Saturday in Kerala and urged authorities to investigate the alleged irregularities surrounding the NEET-UG exam.
NEET Controversy:
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.
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 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.
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.
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