Today(on 1st July),The Supreme Court of India scheduled a hearing in two weeks on a plea alleging OMR sheet manipulation in the NEET-UG 2024 exam. The petitioner’s counsel claimed the petitioner’s sheet was swapped, addressing a vacation bench led by Justice CT Ravikumar and Justice Manoj Misra.
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NEW DELHI: Today(on 1st July), The Supreme Court of India, scheduled a hearing for two weeks later regarding a plea that alleges manipulation of OMR sheets in the NEET-UG 2024 examination. The plea was brought before a vacation bench comprising Justice CT Ravikumar and Justice Manoj Misra.
The counsel representing the petitioner, who had participated in the medical entrance exam, claimed that the petitioner’s OMR sheet had been swapped.
The bench acknowledged the completion of the re-test, stating-
“The exam (re-test) is over on June 23.”
The petitioner’s counsel further mentioned that multiple other petitions alleging various irregularities and seeking the cancellation of NEET-UG 2024 were still pending before the Supreme Court.
Initially, the bench considered listing the plea for a hearing the following week.
“If luck is on your side, you may find some resolution in the other issue.”
– it remarked, hinting at possible favorable outcomes in related cases.
The counsel representing the National Testing Agency (NTA) requested the bench to schedule the hearing for two weeks later. Complying with the request, the apex court has now posted the matter for hearing after two weeks.
In a related development on June 27, while hearing a different petition, the Supreme Court had directed the NTA to clarify if there was any stipulated time frame for candidates to raise grievances regarding their OMR sheets from the NEET-UG 2024 exam. This directive came as part of the ongoing examination of multiple petitions challenging the conduct of the NEET-UG 2024.
Another set of petitions concerning the NEET-UG 2024 are scheduled for a hearing in the Supreme Court on July 8. These petitions include calls for the cancellation of the exam and demand a court-monitored investigation into the alleged irregularities.
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Previously, on June 20, the Supreme Court had sought responses from the Central Government, the NTA, and other related parties concerning several petitions. These petitions are part of a broader controversy, with petitioners demanding the scrapping of NEET-UG 2024 and a judicial probe into the alleged misconduct surrounding the nationwide medical entrance test.
The Supreme Court has underscored the necessity for stringent measures against any form of negligence in the conduct of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for Undergraduates (NEET-UG).
During separate hearings on June 18, the apex court remarked-
“Even if there was a minuscule 0.001 percent negligence in conducting the examination, it should be thoroughly addressed.”
NEET-UG is organized by the National Testing Agency (NTA) and is a critical gateway for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH, and other related courses in both government and private institutions nationwide.
On June 13, the Centre and the NTA informed the Supreme Court that they had annulled the grace marks previously awarded to 1,563 candidates. The affected students were given a choice: retake the test or forgo the compensatory marks that had been awarded due to lost time during the original examination.
Following these developments, the NTA released the revised rank list on Monday, reflecting the results of the retest conducted on June 23. The NEET-UG 2024 was originally held on May 5, across 4,750 centers, with an impressive turnout of around 24 lakh candidates.
Although the results were initially slated for release on June 14, the early completion of answer sheet evaluations led to their announcement on June 4.
However, the examination process has not been without controversy. Allegations of irregularities, including paper leaks, have sparked protests across several cities and intensified the political rivalry. Notably, 67 students achieved a perfect score of 720, an unprecedented feat in the NTA’s history. The fact that six of these top scorers were from a single center in Haryana has raised suspicions of irregularities. It is alleged that grace marks played a role in these 67 students securing the top rank.
