The Calcutta High Court has called for a response from the National Testing Agency (NTA) following a petition raising concerns about alleged irregularities during the conduct of the 2024 NEET (UG) examinations.
A bench comprising Justices Apurba Sinha Ray and Kausik Chanda was hearing the matter.
The petitioner contended that some candidates couldn’t have achieved scores of 718 or 719 out of the maximum 720 marks as per the applicable marking system.
The National Testing Agency (NTA) purportedly defended the awarding of such marks by citing a Supreme Court judgment in Writ Petition (Civil) No.600 of 2018 (Akshat Aggarwal & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors.).
The Court noted that a justification for this action couldn’t be determined without an affidavit from NTA. Consequently, the NTA has been directed to submit an affidavit within ten days, addressing the allegations raised in the writ petition. Furthermore, the affidavit is required to elucidate how the reservation policies of both the State and Central Government were adhered to in formulating the merit list.
Additionally, the National Testing Agency has been instructed to maintain records related to the NEET (UG) 2024 Examination until further orders from the Court.
The division bench, then scheduled the matter for further hearing after two weeks.
