New Delhi: The number of top rankers in NEET-UG will go down to 61 from 67 after the National Testing Agency’s decision to withdraw grace marks awarded to 1,563 students, officials said on Thursday.
Six of these 1,563 candidates who appeared in the medical entrance exam from a centre in Haryana had shared the top rank with 61 others.
Amid a raging row over the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG), 2024, the Centre told the Supreme Court on Thursday that it has cancelled the grace marks awarded to 1,563 candidates who took the examination for admission to MBBS and other such courses.
They will have the option to either take a retest or forego the compensatory marks awarded to them for loss of time.
“Six out of these 1,563 candidates shared the first rank with 61 others. The number of top rankers will now go down from 67 to 61,” a senior National Testing Agency (NTA) official said.
Unless these candidates take a retest and score 720 out of 720, they will not regain their top spot, the official added.
Asked about how the ranks of other candidates will be impacted, the official explained, “The scores of these 1,563 candidates will now be the pre-normalisation scores and not one with grace marks. A revised rank list will be issued only when we know how many of these candidates want to take a retest.”
Refusing to stall the counselling process for NEET-UG, 2024, scheduled to commence on July 6, the Supreme Court made it clear that the admission of successful candidates to medical colleges and other institutions will be subject to the outcome of the petitions that have sought relief such as cancellation of the examination held on May 5 on grounds of question paper leaks and other malpractices.
NEET-UG candidates protest, demand investigation into alleged exam paper leak
In the wake of the alleged NEET exam paper leak, students on Thursday voiced their concerns and demanded a re-examination and a thorough investigation.
A group of students protested at the Jantar Manter here with the slogan “24 lakh students want exam, not scam” and a fair investigation into the paper leak matter.
The results of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) were announced by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on June 4.
Kashish, a candidate of the NEET UG exam, said, “I got 670 marks and I want the seat I deserve. We all want a fair investigation into the paper leak issue as we have worked hard for the exam.”
Speaking about the Supreme Court’s decision on grace marks, Kashish added, “I have no issue with the Supreme Court’s decision on grace marks, but no one is addressing the paper leak issue, which is the major demand of each student here.”
Another student, Harsh Dubey, said, “No one is talking about the paper leak. If an FIR has been lodged in Bihar about the NEET paper leakage, it must be investigated.”
Talking about the current scenario, Dubey told PTI Videos that ranks may increase by two to three thousand, but they should not reach up to 20 to 25 thousand.”
Ranks and numbers have increased all over India due to the paper leak, and now there’s talk of grace marks, Anuj Kumar said.
“We believe the exam should be held again, and a fair investigation should also be conducted,” Anuj added.
Talking to reporters after taking charge as Union education minister for the second time, Dharmendra Pradhan said, “There is no evidence of a paper leak in NEET-UG. The allegations of corruption in NTA are unfounded.
“It is a very credible body. It conducts exams for more than 50 lakh school students annually, besides exams at the higher education level,” he said.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday noted that the sanctity of NEET-UG 2024 had been affected, a charge denied by the NTA.
The top court, however, refused to stay the counselling process for admissions.
“If the candidates, out of the 1,563, do not wish to take up the retest then their earlier marks, sans the grace marks, will be given for the purposes of the results,” the Centre informed the apex court on Thursday.
The results of the re-test will be declared on June 30 and counselling for admissions in MBBS, BDS and other courses will start on July 6, it said.
The NTA administered the entrance exam for undergraduate medical programmes on May 5.
