The Supreme Court has directed the National Testing Agency to publish city- and centre-wise results of the NEET-UG exam by Saturday noon while masking the identity of the students.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwla and Manoj Misra was hearing about 40 petitions in connection with alleged widespread irregularities in the NEET-UG exam. It will next hear the matter on Monday.
During the hearing on Thursday, the court asked several probing questions about the exam and sought to know details of candidates who had changed their centres.
“We do not know how many students changed their centres when the window was open…15,000 students utilised the window which was kept open for making corrections in their application”, the bench reportedly said, asking how students could change their centres which are allotted to them by the agency. “No candidate can decide on the centre. Centres are allotted only by NTA (by the computer system),” the bench asked.
In an exclusive report, Newslaundry had detailed how candidates from outside Gujarat had picked centres in the state as part of an alleged racket.
The centre has challenged the stay on counselling. While students are seeking a retest, the NTA has opposed the demand, saying that malpractices are localised and the exam’s sanctity has not been affected.
The NEET controversy erupted after its results were suddenly announced on June 4, with 67 examinees scoring full marks and two students scoring statistically “impossible” marks. Over 1,500 students across six centres were also granted “grace marks” due to “loss of exam time”.
Newslaundry has extensively reported on the alleged NEET irregularities under our NL Sena project: from the NTA’s different yardsticks for the retest to the alleged modus operandi of a paper leak nexus in Bihar.
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