New Delhi: Alakh Pandey, the CEO and founder of the renowned EdTech platform Physics Wallah, has approached the Supreme Court to address concerns regarding the NEET-UG 2024 examination. This entrance test, conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA), is essential for admissions into medical courses such as MBBS across India.
Pandey’s petition highlights alleged irregularities in the examination process, particularly the arbitrary awarding of grace marks to over 1,500 candidates by the NTA. He has requested the Supreme Court to form an expert panel to investigate the examination process and its results. The NEET-UG 2024, held on May 5 at 4,750 centres, had about 24 lakh participants. Although the results were expected on June 14, they were released early on June 4, raising concerns about the rapid evaluation of answer sheets.
Following the announcement of results, controversy erupted over allegations of question paper leaks and the awarding of grace marks. These issues have sparked protests and legal challenges in seven high courts and the Supreme Court. The unprecedented performance, with 67 students scoring a perfect 720, including six from a single centre in Faridabad, Haryana, has further fueled suspicions of irregularities.
On June 10, students gathered in Delhi, demanding a thorough investigation into these allegations. The contentious grace marks are believed to have contributed to the unusually high number of top scorers, intensifying the call for scrutiny.
In response to the controversy, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan assured students and parents that no substantial evidence of a paper leak has been found. He stated that the allegations are under investigation by competent authorities.
“There’s no evidence of any paper leak yet. There are allegations, and competent authorities are looking into them. Let us wait for the probe by the concerned authorities and the Supreme Court’s judgment on July 8. There’s nothing to hide.
The minister reassured students that the Supreme Court has already issued a judgment on the issue. He announced that all 1,563 affected students, particularly those from the six centres where time constraints were reported, would have the opportunity to reappear for the exam.
Despite these measures, questions remain about the NTA’s initial response to the anomalies before the Supreme Court’s intervention. Mr Pradhan clarified that the NTA had developed a grace mark formula to address the issues, which the Supreme Court noted. However, anomalies within this formula, leading to the highest scorers, were a point of contention for many students.
A delegation of students and parents met with Mr. Pradhan, who urged them to trust the government’s intentions and efforts to rectify the situation. He dismissed calls to scrap NEET, emphasizing the exam’s role as a fair metric, citing last year’s top performer from a rural Tamil Nadu state board.
