NEET-UG 2024 Row: Grace Marks for Wrong Question in NEET Exam Will Be Cancelled, Centre Tells Supreme Court

The controversy surrounding the NEET-UG 2024 exam results has taken a new turn. On Thursday, June 13, the Central Government informed the Supreme Court of its decision to cancel the scorecards of 1563 students who received grace marks for alleged loss of exam time.

These 1563 students will be offered the opportunity to retake the NEET-UG exam. The move comes amidst allegations of irregularities in the awarding of grace marks, which some believe unfairly inflated the merit list.

#BREAKING Centre tells Supreme Court that a decision has been taken to cancel the score-cards of 1563 NEET-UG 2024 candidates who were given grace marks. Centre adds that these 1563 students will be given an option to take a re-test.#NEETUG2024

— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) June 13, 2024

Centre adds that these 1563 students will be asked to take a re-test. Exams will be conducted on June 23, and results will be declared before June 30, 2024, NTA told the apex court.

“Counselling will go on and we will not stop it. If the exam goes then everything goes in totality so nothing to fear,” the Supreme Court has said.

In a separate but related development, Hiten Singh Kashyap and Palak Mittal, two NEET-UG 2024 candidates, have petitioned the Supreme Court, challenging the fairness of the examination process. They claim that widespread question paper leaks and misappropriation occurred before and during the exam.

There is no leakage of #NEET_UG question papers and there is no corruption in the NEET UG exam. The government will implement the direction of the Supreme Court on the matter: @dpradhanbjppic.twitter.com/wbI3PUk1qQ

— All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) June 13, 2024

As per a recent petition, NEET-UG 2024 faced allegations of not just a paper leak but also exam centre manipulations. It was reported that students from states like Odisha, Karnataka, and Jharkhand selected a particular exam centre in Godhra, Gujarat, raising suspicions about the integrity of the exam administration.

The examination was held by the NTA on May 5 across 4,750 centres and around 24 lakh candidates took it. The results were expected to be declared on June 14 but were announced on June 4, apparently because the evaluation of the answer sheets got completed earlier.

The allegations such as question paper leak and the grant of grace marks to over 1,500 medical aspirants have led to protests and filing of cases in seven high courts as also the Supreme Court. As many as 67 students scored a perfect 720, unprecedented in the NTA's history, with six from a centre in Haryana's Faridabad figuring in the list, raising suspicions about irregularities.

Scores of students protested in Delhi on June 10 seeking a probe into alleged irregularities. It has been alleged that 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.