Karnataka minister seeks CBI investigation into NEET exam irregularities

Raichur: Amid the controversy surrounding NEET 2024, Karnataka Medical Education and Skill Development Minister Sharan Prakash Patil recently termed the NEET UG 2024 exam a ''massive scam'' of the Modi government and demanded that the Centre order a CBI investigation.

According to the PTI report, he said that more and more irregularities in the NEET exam are being exposed and blamed the Centre’s failures for the current mess.

In a statement issued by the minister's office, Patil said that the people of the entire country suspect the involvement of many people in this scam.

Expressing the state government’s limitations in seeking exemption from NEET, Patil cited the Supreme Court order and the legal restrictions.

"We cannot outrightly reject NEET as per the law. It was enacted by the central government and we have a Supreme Court order regarding conducting NEET. The Tamil Nadu government has expressed its position, we need to fight legally. The apex court has told the Centre to accept it if it has bungled (the exam)," he said.

"It’s sad that the Centre is not taking this seriously even as students and parents continue their protests across the country. Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is acting in an irresponsible manner. The CBI should conduct the probe and guilty must be punished,” he added.

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

The results of the NEET-UG 2024 exam also shocked many as 67 candidates secured the All India Rank 1. Some of the candidates scored 718 or 719 marks, which seems impossible considering the marking scheme of the NEET-UG exam.

Earlier, the NTA had tried to justify the results by saying that several candidates were awarded grace marks to compensate for the loss of time during the exam. However, NTA's grace marks policy was also challenged before the Supreme Court and later the Agency along with the Union Government informed the Supreme Court of their decision of withdrawing grace marks awarded to 1563 candidates and provide them with an option of appearing in a retest. It was decided that either these candidates would be allowed to retain their original marks, without the grace marks or appear in the retest on 23rd June, 2024.

Meanwhile, the Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had on Thursday ruled out cancellation of NEET for now saying cannot jeopardise careers of lakhs of students who cleared the exam rightfully because of isolated incidents of malpractices.