THE National Testing Agency (NTA) announced the revised rank list for the medical entrance exam NEET-UG on Monday, officials said. The revised list was announced after a retest was conducted for candidates who were earlier awarded grace marks to compensate for loss of time as the exam on May 5 started late at six centres. For the retest conducted at seven centres on June 23 following a Supreme Court order, 48 per cent of the 1,563 candidates did not appear. National Testing Agency officials reported that 813 of the 1,563 candidates appeared for the retest while the others opted for the marks without the grace. Centre-wise, Chandigarh -- which had just two candidates -- registered zero attendance. The under-scanner Jhajjar centre registered 58 per cent attendance, with 287 of the 494 candidates taking the retest.

 

Allegations arose that the grace marks inflated scores, leading to six candidates from a single Haryana centre achieving a perfect 720, along with 61 others. Consequently, the top court ordered the cancellation of the grace marks and provided an option for a retest. “At least 52 per cent -- 813 out of 1,563 candidates -- appeared for the retest. No candidates appeared in Chandigarh while the numbers were 291 from Chhattisgarh, one from Gujarat, 287 from Haryana, and 234 from Meghalaya,” a senior NTA official earlier said. The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) was held on May 5 across 4,750 centres, with approximately 24 lakh candidates appearing for it. Initially expected on June 14, the results were announced on June 4 due to early completion of answer sheet evaluations. Sixty-seven students scored a perfect 720, an unprecedented number in the NTA’s history, with six from a single centre in Haryana, raising suspicions of irregularities and the role of grace marks.

 

NEET-UG is conducted by the NTA for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses in government and private institutions. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Monday posted for hearing after two weeks a plea alleging OMR sheet manipulation in the controversy-ridden NEET-UG, 2024. The plea came up for hearing before a vacation bench of Justice CT Ravikumar and Justice Manoj Misra. The counsel appearing for the petitioner, who had taken the medical entrance exam, alleged that his OMR sheet was swapped. The bench told the counsel that the petitioner was seeking permission to appear in the retest that was held on June 23. “The exam (re-test) is over on June 23,” the bench said. The petitioner’s counsel said several other petitions alleging irregularities and also seeking cancellation of NEET-UG, 2024, were pending before the apex court.