NEET-UG Results: Grace Marks Given To 1563 Candidates Will Be Cancelled, Retest On June 23, Centre Tells SC

The Centre on Thursday told the Supreme Court that it has decided to cancel the grace marks awarded to1563 NEET-UG 2024 candidates in NEET-UG 2024 results

Centre tells SC that these 1563 students will be given an option to take a re-test

Source : PTI

The Centre on Thursday told the Supreme Court that it has decided to cancel the grace marks awarded to1563 NEET-UG 2024 candidates in NEET-UG 2024 results. Centre adds that these 1563 students will be given an option to take a re-test or their result will be calculated on marks obtained without grace marks. The Supreme Court accepted this proposal after confirming with petitioners that they do not have any problem with this.

The Supreme Court on Thursday also ordered that all petitions alleging paper leak and unfair means to be tagged together and be heard on July 8 and sought NTA's response on issues other than compensatory marks.

The court while dictating the order said that it has been told that the NTA committee has decided that the score cards of 1563 students will be cancelled and they will be granted opportunity to give a retest. In case they don't wish to take a retest, their marks will be calculated after deducting grace marks in the examination.

The retest will be notified today itself and the process will be complete before counselling starts. Retest is likely to take place on June 23 and results are out before July 1, the Centre told the top court. The court clarified that only those candidates who faced delay in examination centres will be allowed to take a retest.

The NTA had constituted a committee to re-consider the issue after petitions were filed challenging the award of grace marks. The Centre today informed the top court that it has been proposed that the grace marks awarded to 1563 students be cancelled. The court asked NTA's confirmed the submission with NTA's counsel and then asked the petitioners who had challenged that award of grace marks. 

Advocate Balaji appearing for one of the petitioners told the court that he is satisfied with the cancellation and retest proposal. However, counsel Sai Deepak asked what about those students who did not approach the court but faced delay in the exam centre.

Advocate Sai Deepak appearing for Alakh Pandey, the founder of Physics Wallah informed the court that there were 6 examination centers where delay was reported. He pleaded that a window be kept open for those students to apply for retest. Alakh Pandey in his petition claimed that the NTA's decision to award grace marks was "arbitrary". Pandey collected representations from about 20,000 students, showing that 70-80 marks were randomly awarded as grace marks to at least 1,500 students.

However, the court said that it will not appreciate this as they have not approached the court.

Notably, the NTA conducted the NEET examination on May 5 across 4,750 centers and was taken by around 24 lakh candidates. Although the results were expected to be declared on June 14, they were announced earlier on June 4, as the evaluation of the answer sheets was completed ahead of schedule. Allegations of a question paper leak and the granting of grace marks to over 1,500 medical aspirants have sparked protests and led to the filing of cases in high courts as well as the Supreme Court.

Three petitions were listed today in the top court seeking the cancellation of the NEET UG 2024 and the conduct of a retest due to alleged irregularities in the grant of grace marks and allegations of paper leak. 

A vacation bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta tagged the petitions against peper leak for July 8 and refused to stay the NEET counselling.