SC Asks NTA To Re-Tally NEET-UG Results Over Ambiguous Question It Referred To IIT-D

The Supreme Court on Tuesday while refusing to order a re-test in NEET-UG exams, directed the National Testing Agency (NTA) to re-tally the exam result

The Supreme Court said that NTA shall treat the answer suggested by IIT-D as correct answer.

Source : PTI

The Supreme Court on Tuesday, while refusing to order a re-test in NEET-UG exams, directed the National Testing Agency (NTA) to re-tally the exam result based on the correct answer to one four marker "ambiguous question" in the medical entrance exam of 2024.The NTA had granted marks to all students who either marked option 4 or option 2 as the correct answer.

One answer was correct based on old NCERT and another based on New NCERT. The NTA in its initial answer key had said that option 4 (new NCERT was the correct answer.) But after objections were raised over ambiguity, the NTA granted marks to all students who chose either of the options.

The Supreme Court on Monday had asked IIT-D to form a three member expert panel to ascertain the correct answer to the ambiguous question after a petition was moved in court by a student who said that this decision of NTA put her at disadvantage as she knew something was wrong with the ambiguous question and she skipped it fearing negative marking. IIT-D today informed the court that option 4 is the correct option.

The Supreme Court said that NTA shall treat the answer suggested by IIT-D as correct answer.

"In view of the expert determination we have no manner of doubt with regard to the correct option. Options 2 and 4 are mutually exclusive and cannot stand together. We accept the IIT Delhi report and accordingly, NTA shall re-tally the NEET UG result on the basis that option 4 represents the only correct answer to the question. We have not indicated the number of the questions since the number of questions may vary as per procedure followed in the exam to preserve the integrity of the process," the top court said.

The top court had yesterday pulled up the NTA for treating both answers as correct answers. The Supreme Court asked why NTA went against its own rules, where it has clearly stated that the answer of the new NCERT will be treated as the correct one.

SG Mehta appearing for Centre told the court that they did so after recieving representation from poor families of several candidates who used older NCERT versions passed on to them by elder siblings.