The Supreme Court has decided that there will be no retest for NEET-UG, the entrance exam for medical courses. The bench, including Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, stated that there was no evidence showing that the results were completely invalid or that there was a major breach in the exam’s integrity.
Previously, the court had received a report from IIT Delhi. Professor Banerjee, the director, had formed a committee from the Physics department to examine a controversial question in the exam. The committee of three experts concluded that option 4 was the correct answer. The Supreme Court bench agreed with the committee’s findings, confirming that the National Testing Agency (NTA) had the correct answer key.
The Controversial Question
The contentious question involved two statements about atoms:
- Atoms are electrically neutral because they contain equal numbers of positive and negative charges.
- Atoms of each element are stable and emit their characteristic spectrum.
“In the light of the above statements, choose the most appropriate answer from the options given below:
(1) Statement I is incorrect but Statement II is correct.
(2) Both Statement I and Statement II are correct.
(3) Both Statement I and Statement II are incorrect.
(4) Statement I is correct but Statement II is incorrect.
The correct answer, as verified by the IIT Delhi committee, was option 4.
On Monday, the Supreme Court ordered the IIT Delhi director to form a three-member panel to determine the correct answer to this question. The answer would affect the results of 400,000 students.
The NTA released the exam results on July 20, following the Supreme Court’s order on July 18 to not disclose student identities. The results showed that candidates suspected of benefiting from irregularities, such as a paper leak, did not perform well overall. However, some exam centers did show a high concentration of top-performing students.
The data for over 3.2 million candidates from 4,750 centers was released in a drop-down menu format for each center. This release was directed by the Supreme Court, which is reviewing multiple petitions concerning alleged irregularities as many aspirants await a final decision.
The performance of candidates from certain centers under scrutiny, such as Oasis School in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand; Hardayal Public School in Jhajjar, Haryana; and Jay Jalaram International School in Godhra, Gujarat, was notably below average.
NEET-UG, conducted by the NTA, is a nationwide examination for admissions into MBBS, BDS, AYUSH, and other related courses in both government and private institutions across India. The 2024 NEET-UG was held on May 5 at 4,750 centers, with around 2.4 million candidates appearing for the exam.
During the hearing, the Supreme Court posed several questions to the NTA regarding the alleged paper leak and malpractices in the NEET exam. Despite these concerns, the court’s decision to not retest the exam stands, providing clarity and relief to many students.
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