'Even if There is 0.001% Negligence...': SC Pulls Up Centre, NTA Amid NEET Row

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday came down heavily on the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts the nationwide exam for medical college aspirants, while hearing multiple pleas related to the NEET-UG 2024 exam results.

While hearing the matter, the apex court ordered the Central government and the NTA not to ignore the complaints of the students and rectify errors “even if there is 0.001% negligence on the part of anyone.”

The SC also issued notices to National Testing Agency (NTA) and Centre, seeking their response on pleas relating to alleged paper leaks and malpractices in NEET-UG, 2024.

“If there is 0.001% negligence on the part of anyone it should be thoroughly dealt with,” observed the SC. "Children have prepared for the exams, we cannot forget their labour, it added.

Next Hearing on July 8

The next hearing in the matter will be held on July 8 by a bench led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud.

Earlier on June 13, the Centre had told the Supreme Court that the grace marks awarded to 1,563 candidates who appeared in the NEET-UG exam 2024 would be scrapped and the candidates would have the option of reappearing for the exam again on June 23. However, the SC had declined to stay the counselling while hearing the matter on June 13. The results of the retest would be declared before June 30, the top court was told. 

This came after a massive uproar by students across the country over the results which met with significant disapproval from both parents and children.

If any candidate refuses to take the re-test, then he/she will have to go ahead with the counseling process with their ‘non-normalised marks’, which is what these students had actually achieved before the addition of grace marks.

Why Were Students Awarded Grace Marks?

Students from at least six centres in Meghalaya, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Surat and Chandigarh had complained about the loss of time during the exams. At these locations, the students did not get the full 3 hours and 20 minutes to write the exam due to administrative reasons, such as the distribution of the wrong question paper, torn OMR sheets, or delay in the distribution of OMR sheets. 

Several students at these centres had alleged irregularities in the exam, following which investigation was conducted by the panel formed by the NTA which found merit in students' grievances. The probe committee chose to use the formula devised and adopted by the apex court in a 2018 judgement, to address the loss of time faced by candidates. 

Thereafter, a decision was taken to give the affected students grace marks in order to compensate for loss of time during the exam because of errors and delays on the part of NTA staff and invigilators, and an incorrect question. 

The results for the medical entrance examination were declared on June 4. The test was undertaken by around 24 lakh students on May 5. Soon after the exam, allegations of leakage of the NEET-UG paper surfaced. As many as 67 students got a perfect score of 720/720, unprecedented in NEET's history.