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The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG), 2024, has been marred by controversy, leading to the withdrawal of grace marks for 1,563 candidates by the National Testing Agency (NTA). The students, who were initially given grace marks to compensate for time lost due to delays in starting the examination at certain centers, will now have the option to take a re-test on June 23, with results expected on June 30.
The affected candidates will be informed of their actual scores without compensatory marks, and their re-examination results will be declared on their actual marks. No compensatory marks will be given for the re-examination, and the marks obtained in the May 5, 2024, exam will be discarded.
The decision to withdraw grace marks and conduct a re-examination was made to ensure that the counseling session scheduled for July 6 would not be affected. A Vacation Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta disposed of the petition on the issue of grace marks, while directing NTA to file its response to allegations of question paper leaks within two weeks.
The Supreme Court had earlier scheduled a hearing on July 8 for another petition filed by 10 candidates. The court has heard three petitions in total, including one filed by the chief executive of the EdTech firm Physics Wallah, pertaining to irregularities in the NEET-UG, 2024 examination.
The examination was conducted by the NTA on May 5 across 4,750 centers, with around 24 lakh candidates taking the test. The results were expected to be declared on June 14 but were announced on June 4, reportedly due to the early completion of the evaluation of answer sheets.
Allegations of question paper leaks and the grant of grace marks to over 1,500 medical aspirants have led to protests and the filing of cases in seven high courts and the Supreme Court. As many as 67 students scored a perfect 720, an unprecedented occurrence in NTA's history, with six from a center in Haryana's Faridabad featuring in the list, raising suspicions about irregularities.
Scores of students protested in Delhi on June 10, demanding a probe into the alleged irregularities. It has been alleged that the grace marks contributed to 67 students sharing the top rank.
The NEET-UG examination is conducted by the NTA for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH, and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country.
Source: NEET UG 2024 exam results: Grace marks for aspirants withdrawn, Centre informs Supreme Court