Supreme Court Criticizes NTA Over NEET Exam Concerns

The justices urged the NTA to maintain fairness in conducting the exam, admitting mistakes openly, and taking appropriate corrective actions.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has strongly criticized the National Testing Agency (NTA) over issues surrounding the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), a crucial exam for medical college admissions.

The court emphasized that even minimal negligence must be addressed thoroughly. "If there's even 0.001% negligence on anyone's part, it should be thoroughly dealt with," the Supreme Court stated.

The justices urged the NTA to maintain fairness in conducting the exam, admitting mistakes openly, and taking appropriate corrective actions. This, they argued, would inspire confidence in the agency's performance.

The court also highlighted the immense effort students put into preparing for NEET, one of the most challenging entrance exams in the country. The court remarked, "Consider the harm if someone who has cheated the system becomes a doctor. Such an individual poses a greater threat to society. Students put in immense effort to pass NEET."

In a recent development, the NTA informed the Supreme Court that it would retract the grace marks given to 1,563 candidates in the NEET-UG exam, allowing them the option to retake the exam on June 23. The results of this re-test are expected before June 30. Candidates who opt out of the re-test will have their original scores reinstated without the grace marks.

The NEET results, announced on June 4, followed an exam taken by 24 lakh students on May 5. Allegations of a paper leak and irregularities soon emerged, with 67 students achieving a perfect score of 720/720. Grace marks were reportedly given to compensate for time lost at exam centers.

Several student organizations have protested against these irregularities, citing issues such as incorrect question papers, torn Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets, and delays in sheet distribution.