NEET Row: Supreme Court Set to Hear Petitions on July 8

The Supreme Court of India is set to hear a series of pleas concerning the controversial NEET-UG on July 8. These pleas include allegations of irregularities in the examination conducted on May 5 and requests for the exam to be conducted afresh.

As per the cause list for July 8 uploaded on the Supreme court’s website, the batch of 26 petitions would come up for hearing before a bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.

The NEET-UG examination, conducted by the NTA, is the pathway for admissions into MBBS, BDS, AYUSH, and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country.

The exam was conducted on May 5 across 4,750 centers, with around 24 lakh candidates appearing for the exam.

Timeline of Events

Originally expected on June 14, the results were announced earlier on June 4 due to the swift completion of answer-sheet evaluation.

Allegations of irregularities, including paper leaks, have sparked protests in several cities and disputes between rival political parties.

On June 11, in response to a plea seeking a fresh exam due to alleged question paper leaks and other malpractices, the top court observed that the sanctity of the NEET-UG has been compromised and requested responses from the Centre and the NTA regarding the petition.

However, it refused to halt the counseling process for successful candidates seeking admission to MBBS, BDS, and other courses.

On June 20, the top court sought responses from the Centre, the NTA, and others concerning a series of petitions, including those calling for the scrapping of the NEET-UG and a court-monitored investigation amidst growing outrage over the alleged irregularities in the all-India medical entrance test.

During separate hearings on June 18, the apex court stated that even “0.001 per cent negligence” in the conduct of the examination must be thoroughly addressed.

The Centre and the NTA informed the court on June 13 that they had canceled the grace marks awarded to 1,563 candidates.

These candidates were given the option to either retake the exam or forgo the compensatory marks awarded for the loss of time.

Revised Rank List

The NTA announced the revised rank list on Monday following the results of the re-test conducted on June 23.

A total of 67 students had achieved a perfect score of 720, a first in the NTA’s history. Among them were six students from a Haryana centre, leading to suspicions of irregularities in the examination held on May 5. Allegations suggest that grace marks may have contributed to the 67 students sharing the top rank.

With the announcement of the revised results on Monday, the number of candidates sharing the top rank in the NEET-UG decreased to 61 from 67.

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