The Centre informed the Supreme Court on Thursday that it has decided to cancel the scorecards of 1,563 NEET-UG 2024 candidates who were awarded grace marks. These students will be given the option to retake the exam on June 23.
Candidates who choose not to retake the exam will have their original scores, without the grace marks, used for their results. The re-test results will be announced on June 30, and the counselling for admission into MBBS, BDS, and other courses will commence on July 6, according to the Centre.
Additionally, the government notified the Supreme Court of the formation of a committee to review the results of candidates who received grace marks due to time loss during the exam.
Earlier, the Supreme Court reiterated its decision not to halt the NEET-UG 2024 counselling process. “Counselling will proceed as scheduled and there will be no interruption. If the exam continues, everything else will proceed as well, so there is no cause for concern,” the top court said.
The Supreme Court also stated that all petitions, including those seeking the cancellation of NEET-UG 2024 due to allegations of malpractices, will be addressed on July 8.
The NEET-UG 2024 exam, conducted by the NTA on May 5 across 4,750 centres, saw approximately 24 lakh candidates appear. Though the results were expected on June 14, they were released on June 4, as the evaluation of answer sheets was completed ahead of schedule.
Allegations of a question paper leak and the awarding of grace marks to over 1,500 medical aspirants have sparked protests and led to the filing of cases in seven high courts as well as the Supreme Court.
Notably, 67 students achieved a perfect score of 720, an unprecedented occurrence in NTA’s history. Suspicion arose when six students from a centre in Haryana’s Faridabad were among those with perfect scores.
On June 10, numerous students protested in Delhi, demanding an investigation into the alleged irregularities. It has been suggested that the grace marks contributed to 67 students sharing the top rank.
The NEET-UG examination, conducted by NTA, is essential for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH, and other related courses in both government and private institutions nationwide.