'Two correct options for one question' in NEET 2024 exam: SC issues notice to NTA on candidate's plea

New Delhi: On a plea alleging that one of the questions framed by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for NEET 2024 exam was ''ambiguous'' as it had two correct options, the Supreme Court has issued a notice to the agency.

According to UNI report, the NEET-UG candidate argued that the "ambiguous question" framed by the NTA, caused an inconsistency between the instructions given in the examination question booklet and the answer key published by the NTA on May 30. 

The petitioner said she had left the ambiguous question unattempted to avoid negative marking and loss of rank as it contained two correct options which was against the NTA's instruction of having only one correct option mentioned in the question booklet.

The instructions printed on the examination question booklet mentioned that each question had only one correct option. However, it is the case of the petitioner that Question No. 19 in Test Booklet Code S3 had two correct options i.e., options 2 and 4. Therefore to avoid negative marking the petitioner left question 19 unattempted and took the risk of letting go of a question instead of losing marks on account of negative marking.

The petitioner further argued that the results declared by the NTA considered both options 2 and 4 of Question 19 as correct which is contrary to the instructions printed on the question paper booklet.

The counsel for the petitioner requested the court to list the matter before the start of the counseling, but the court refused to do so and posted it on July 8. The court also tagged it with the other pending petitions.

“This act of the Respondent (NTA) of framing an ambiguous question that resulted in 2 options being marked as correct is contrary to the instructions that stated only one option could be correct. Moreover, it is discriminatory against those candidates, including the Petitioner, who adhered to the instruction and did not mark an answer for Question No. 19 as it was ambiguous. The Respondent (NTA), in doing so, has acted arbitrarily and violated Articles 14, 15, and 19 (1)(a) of the Indian Constitution.”, the petitioner stated, quotes Livelaw.

The petitioner called for judicial intervention into the alleged unfair evaluation done by the NTA for accepting two correct answers for a single question as it has prejudiced the Petitioner's prospects of getting the better rank by one mark thereby impacting the Petitioner's chances of securing admission to a prestigious medical college.

The vacation bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and SVN Bhatti after hearing the plea observed that the admissions will be subject to the outcome of the petitions and if the exam is set aside, then consequentially, the counselling will also be invalidated.

According to LiveLaw report, the Petitioner prayed for the grant of the following reliefs:-

I. “Pass a further writ, order or direction awarding equal marks to all those who didn't attempt the impugned question (Question No. 19 of Booklet S3), as it has been done for those who attempted either of the two correct answers;

II. Pass a writ, order and/or direction declaring the award of arbitrary grace marks to candidates unequally as arbitrary and illegal.

III. Pass a further writ, order or direction setting aside the portion of the NTA Information Bulletin that arbitrarily discriminates between wrong questions and questions wrongly having two wrong answers;

IV. Pass a further writ, order or direction in the nature of Mandamus directing the National Testing Agency to correct and re-publish the NEET (UG) 2024 results, ranks, and percentiles based on the revised marks;

V. Pass any such other and further orders as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper.”

This year's National Eligibility-and-Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2024 Examination was mired in controversies after the allegations of paper leak came to light. 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.

Meanwhile, NEET aspirants across the country have been protesting against the alleged paper leak issue in NEET UG 2024 and the National Testing Agency's policy of awarding grace marks to 1563 candidates. While finally the NTA decided to scrap the grace marks, the issue of alleged paper leak is still unsolved.

Although earlier, the Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had denied such allegations of paper leak, recently he assured action against NTA officials if they were found guilty of the "irregularities" in the conduct of the MBBS entrance exam.

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.

The NEET 2024 issue has now taken a political turn as opposition parties are accusing the government over the allegations of rigging, paper leaks, and corruption. Recently Congress leader Rahul Gandhi argued that the BJP-ruled states were the "epicentre of paper leak".

While hearing pleas concerning the NEET examination, the apex court had on June 18 said that even if there was "0.001 per cent negligence" on the part of anyone in the conduct of the examination, it should be thoroughly dealt with.