Over 50 successful candidates have moved the Supreme Court to stop the Centre and the National Testing Agency from taking any steps to cancel the undergraduate National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG) 2024 which was riddled with allegations of paper leaks and other irregularities.
The NEET-UG 2024, held on May 5, is facing a whirlwind of controversy with the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) arresting several persons.
The petitioners said legal action should be taken against the perpetrators of foul play, but that should not affect students who have worked hard for several years for the exam.
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“It would not only be unreasonable and harsh for the honest and hardworking students but also would lead to the infringement of the Right to Education and therefore violative of Article 14 (right to equality) of the Constitution,” the petition said.
Medical aspirants have to pass NEET to get admissions in colleges across the country. NEET-UG 2024 was held across 4,750 centres on May 5 and around 24 lakh candidates appeared in the exam.
The fresh plea by 56 students has been filed days before a top court Bench headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud is scheduled to hear the NEET case on July 8. Over 25 separate petitions seeking reliefs, which include re-examination, would be heard by the three-judge Bench.
These petitioners have alleged irregularities like students receiving different marks on their scorecards compared to their OMR sheets; unprecedented inflation of cut-off and average marks resulted in an unprecedented 67 candidates achieving a perfect score of 720/720; six of these toppers were from the same exam centre in Haryana; students having scored 718 and 719 marks, which is “statistically questionable”; no disclosure of method/criteria adopted for grant of compensatory marks for loss of time, etc.
Published - July 04, 2024 04:43 pm IST
