Secretary for higher education, K Sanjay Murthy addressed a press conference today, June 8 on the ongoing NEET controversy in New Delhi.
Taking note of the questions raised about six students topping from the same centre in Haryana, Murthy stated, "After analysing the centre, we discovered that the average marks in the centre were 235, which is higher than the average marks of 23 lakh students who appeared in the exam. It means that the students at that particular centre were high-scorers. Even without any compensation, some of the centre's students performed well.”
Murthy further said that only 1600 students who took the exam in six centres have been affected by the controversy.
He maintained that compensatory marks made no difference in the overall results, as nearly 773 students' revised marks remained negative even after grace marks were applied. A total of 1563 students received grace marks, with only 790 qualifying.
Murthy added that the range of compensatory marks varies from student to student. "According to the Court's orders, grace marks differ for each student. Each student received compensatory marks based on a different system that took into account factors such as answer efficiency, among others," he said.
It was further alleged that the grace marks system which is adopted from CLAT is discriminatory because CLAT is an online exam whereas NEET is held offline. Murthy commented on the issue, saying that the pattern of time loss is similar in both exams. "A grievance committee has been formed to review the situation. They will submit their report within a week," he said, adding that the decision to re-conduct NEET will be based on their findings and recommendations.
The NEET UG exam is plagued by controversies such as paper leaks, exam irregularities, and scam allegations.
