NEET-UG: Top Court notice to exam body over 'inconsistent' marks calculation

The Supreme Court today issued a notice to the National Testing Agency (NTA) following a petition filed by a learning app alleging exam rigging in the recently conducted NEET-UG exams. The court has directed the NTA to respond to the notice by July 8, when the hearing on the matter will take place.

The petition raises serious concerns about the integrity of the NEET-UG examination held on May 5. The results for this exam, announced on June 4, have been mired in controversy with allegations of irregularities and malpractice. The petitioners claim that over 1,500 students were awarded grace marks, which has significantly impacted the overall rankings and fairness of the exam.

The bench asked for the NTA's response on the time limit to raise the grievances pertaining to the OMR sheets. "Let us know if there is a timeline to provide the OMR sheets. As of now, we will tag it. Let NTA seek instructions on this," the court noted and tagged the petition with others for July 8.

During the hearing, the bench also pulled up coaching centres, saying they have "no role to play". The plea was filed by a learning app "This is one of the reasons why we see this role played by the coaching centres, bagpipers. They have hardly any role to play. Their obligation and duty...if they have discharged their service that is the end of the matter. They have not undertaken to see that everything that Centre is supposed to do will be taken care of by them," Justice Bhatti said.