Supreme Court To Hear Fresh Petitions Regarding NEET-UG 2024 Exam Cancellation Today

New Delhi: Amidst all the controversy surrounding the NEET-UG 2024 exam results, the Supreme Court is set to hear fresh petitions seeking the cancellation of the examination over alleged paper leak on Thursday, June 20. This comes amid the ongoing uproar over the alleged irregularities in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) examination 2024 that escalated into protests and complaints after 1563 candidates received grace marks, while 67 students scored a perfect 720. Notably, around 24 lakh candidates appeared for the NEET-UG 2024 examination, held on May 5 across 4,750 centres.

The top court on Tuesday stated that if it was discovered there was even a minor negligence on the part of anyone in the conduct of NEET-UG 2024 examination, it will be dealt with thoroughly. A vacation bench of Justice Vikram Nath and  Justice SVN Bhatti, while addressing the advocates appearing for the Centre and the National Testing Agency (NTA), said, "Even if there is 0.001 per cent negligence on the part of anyone, it should be thoroughly dealt with." 

Results for the examination was announced on June 4

The Supreme Court also stated that the litigation regarding the exam would not be treated as adversarial as the students have to labour hard to prepare for this medical examination, news agency PTI reported.

On June 13, the Centre and the National Testing Agency, which conducts the all India pre-medical entrance test, had on June 13 told the Supreme Court that they had cancelled the grace marks given to 1,563 candidates.

Centre stated that these candidates will be given the option to either take a retest or forgo the compensatory marks awarded to them for the loss of time.

The results were expected to be declared on June 14 but were announced on June 4.

Since then there have been allegations of question paper leaks in states like Bihar, in addition to other irregularities in the exam. On June 14, five people including a school principal and a teacher were arrested for trying to help students clear the exam for Rs 10 lakh each. These arrests were made in Gujarat's Godhra.

Several students staged a protest in Delhi on June 10, seeking an investigation into alleged irregularities in the medical entrance exam.