NEET UG 2024: Centre tells Supreme Court candidates who got less time will be allowed retest; grace marks cancelled

The Central government told the Supreme Court on Thursday that candidates who got less than the allotted time to write the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) undergraduate exam 2024 for medical college admissions will have the option to re-take the exam or forgo grace marks awarded earlier for suffering a loss of time. .The development has come amid controversy that the "arbitrary" award of grace marks led to a shocking surge of top scorers during the NEET, with several claims being made of malpractices, cheating and irregularities in the conduct of the exam.The Court was informed today that all 1,563 candidates who suffered as they got less than the allotted time to write NEET 2024, will be given the option for the re-test.If they choose to take the re-exam, their earlier NEET score will stand cancelled (and the new score after the re-exam will be counted instead).If these students choose not to take the retest, their original scores would remain but without counting grace marks awarded earlier on account of the loss of time..A Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta was informed that such a course was suggested after a committee meeting held yesterday (June 12). This was recorded in the Court's order today."According to the said recommendations, it has been suggested that the score cards of the affected 1563 candidates issued on 4th June, 2024 will stand cancelled and withdrawn. These affected 1563 candidates will be informed about their actual scores without compensatory marks. Further re-test will be conducted for the affected 1563 candidates. The result of those affected 1563 candidates who do not wish to appear for the re-test will be declared based on their actual marks (without adding compensatory marks) obtained by them" the Court noted. .The National Testing Agency (NTA) also informed that the re-test will be held on June 23 and its results would be notified by June 30.The medical college counselling will begin thereafter from July 6 onwards. .The Court was hearing petitions questioning the manner in which the NEET for undergraduate medical college admissions was held this year. The petitions included those questioning the award of grace marks, with some seeking the cancellation of the NEET results announced on June 4.Appearing for the Central government, Advocate Kanu Aggarwal said today that a decision to hold a retest for those awarded grace marks due to a loss of time was taken by an NTA committee on June 12, to allay the fear of students. The Court was told that this retest would cover 1,563 students who got less time and were awarded grace marks in six exam centres.Appearing for a petitioner (Alakh Pandey, founder of test prep startup PhysicsWallah), advocate J Sai Deepak expressed concern that while such a course may give a second shot at the exam for some of the candidates, there were others with concerns who were not before the Court.The Bench, however, said that it cannot expand the scope of the case to those who had not approached the Court yet.All the same, the Court has ordered the NTA to file its reply on allegations that unfair means were adopted by some in the NEET. This reply is to be filed by July 8, when the case will be heard next.Senior Advocate Naresh Kaushik appeared for the NTA..[Read live coverage of hearing].[Read order].Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.