The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the National Testing Agency to file a response on pleas demanding fresh conduct of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate 2024 examinations following reports of alleged malpractices in the examination.
Hearing multiple pleas against the examinations, a vacation bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah directed the NTA to file a response to the pleas. The bench observed the sanctity of the examinations has been affected. The bench observed, “Sanctity has been affected, so we need answers," Live Law reported.
However, the bench refused to suspend the counselling for admission to MBBS, BDS and other medical courses. The NEET-UG examination is conducted by the NTA for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country.
NEET-UG 2024 was held on May 5 and its results were declared on June 4. It was expected to be declared on June 14. The pleas alleged that NEET-UG 2024, was riddled with malpractices as various instances of paper leaks have come to the knowledge of the petitioners.
The NTA recently formed a four-member panel to re-examine marks awarded to over 1,500 students after several aspirants flagged mark inflation. "The panel will meet soon and review the grace marks awarded to over 1,500 NEET-UG medical entrance exam candidates," National Testing Agency Director General Subodh Kumar Singh had said. The students were reportedly awarded grace marks to compensate for the loss of time at a few examination centres.
-with inputs from agencies.