NEET Row: Candidates Urge SC To Order Re-Evaluation Of OMR Sheets In Another Plea

NEET Row: The writ petition was filed by eight candidates who appeared for the NEET examination on May 5 under Article 32.

Another petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a complete re-evaluation of all OMR answer sheets, re-ranking of candidates, and a court-monitored enquiry. ( Image Source :PTI )

NEET Row: In the latest developments in the ongoing row pertaining to the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEET)-UG 2024 Results, another petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a complete re-evaluation of all OMR answer sheets, re-ranking of candidates, and a court-monitored enquiry, as reported by the Live Law.

The writ petition was filed by eight candidates who appeared for the NEET examination on May 5 under Article 32.

There are alleged multiple 'arbitrary and illegal actions and irregularities' on the part of the NTA. The alleged irregularities included different marks of students on their scorecards compared to their OMR sheets. According to the Live Law, these discrepancies were not due to the awarded grace marks, as these students were not from the centres where grace marks were purportedly given.

Another alleged irregularity pertained to unprecedented inflation of cut-off and average marks which resulted in an unprecedented 67 candidates achieving a perfect score of 720/720 and securing the top rank.

Among the other alleged irregularities were no disclosure of the method and criteria adopted for the grant of Compensatory Marks for loss of time and no defined logic for the grace marks given to these students.

It is also prayed that the press releases by the NTA on June 4 (declaration of results) and June 6 (clarification on result queries) be declared as illegal and quashed, as reported by the Live Law.

A notice was issued by the vacation bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta on the petition on June 14. According to the Live Law report, a notice was also issued on a similar matter on Friday (June 14) which sought a CBI inquiry into the alleged instances of paper leak in the NEET UG Exam. All the petitions pertaining to NEET-UG 2024 will be posted next on July 14.

The examination was held 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. There have been allegations of question paper leaks in states like Bihar and the other irregularities in the prestigious exam.

The allegations have led to protests in several cities and filing of petitions in several high courts as also the Supreme Court. Scores of students protested in Delhi on June 10 seeking a probe into alleged irregularities.

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. It has been alleged that grace marks contributed to 67 students sharing the top rank.