The Centre told the Supreme Court on Thursday that the government has decided to cancel the score cards of 1563 NEET UG Candidates who received grace marks and have been given the option to take a re-test.
The re-test will be held on June 23.
The Centre further stated that the students will further be informed about their original scores minus the grace marks and the result for the students who do not choose to take the re-test will be based on the June 5 exam.
The SC ordered, as reported by PTI, "according to the recommendations, it has been suggested that the score-cards of the affected 1563 candidates issued on June 4, 2024 will stand cancelled and withdrawn. These affected 1563 candidates will be informed of their actual scores without compensatory marks. Further, re-examination will be conducted for the affected 1563 candidates."
It further stated that, "The results of the affected candidates who do not wish to appear for the re-examination will be declared on their actual marks without compensation obtained by them in the examination held on May 5, 2024 and the marks obtained by the candidates who will appear in the retest will be considered and their marks based on the examination held on May 5, 2024 will be discarded."
This means that the candidates who will choose to not appear for the re-exam will be evaluated on the basis of June 5 exam without the grace marks criteria.
The court, however, refused to stop the admissions counselling process. If any of the 1,563 candidates choose not to take the retest, their previous scores, excluding the grace marks, will be used to determine the results.
The re-test results will be announced on June 30, and the centre has stated that admission counselling for MBBS, BDS, and other courses will begin on July 6.
Three petitions related to the topic are being heard by the SC, one of which was brought by the CEO of the EdTech company Physics Wallah.
Lawyer J Sai Deepak, representing Alakh Pandey, the CEO of EdTech firm 'Physics Wallah', criticised the random allocation of grace marks and demanded that all students who were unable to visit the court due to time constraints be offered the opportunity of re-testing. The bench denied the request, stating that it could not extend the scope of the case to people who had not contacted the court, according to PTI.
According to PTI, the Supreme Court will hear additional petitions on July 8 that address the disparities and possible malpractice associated with the granting of grace marks across 6 centres.
The NEET UG 2024 exam is surrounded by much controversies about paper leak allegations including malpractices held during the exam.
The NTA administered the exam on May 5 at 4,750 locations, and almost 24 lakh people took it.
