Union Human Resource of Development (HRD) minister Dharmendra Pradhan has assured that no student who appeared in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) will face any disadvantage, in the wake of Centre's submission in the Supreme Court. The Centre on Thursday told the top court that the decision to give grace marks to 1,563 NEET-UG, 2024 candidates for admission to MBBS, BDS and others courses has been cancelled and they will be given an option to take a re-test on June 23.
When the results were declared on June 4, 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. This raised suspicion about irregularities and students started raising questions on the National Testing Agency (NTA) demanding a thorough investigation.
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Mr Pradhan, however, denied all the allegations against NTA. "Allegations of corruption in NTA unfounded, and the testing agency is a credible body," the Union minister said at a press conference.
"Twenty four lakh students appear in the examination. A hearing in the Supreme Court is underway today and this issue is regarding around 1,500 students. The government is ready to give answers to the court. This specific issue is being taken into consideration and a committee of academicians has been formed. The government will present this in front of the court," he further said.
Reacting to the allegations of paper leak, the minister assures that the government will take action against the people responsible.
The examination was held on May 5 across 4,750 centres. The allegations such as question paper leak and the grant of grace marks to over 1,500 aspirants led to protests and filing of cases in seven high courts as also the Supreme Court.
NTA denied any irregularities and said the changes made in the NCERT textbooks and grace marks for losing time at the examination centres are some of the reasons behind the students scoring higher marks.