Following widespread protests by students and a demand for investigation monitored by the Supreme Court, the Union ministry of education has announced the setting up of a panel to reassess the results of 1,563 students who received grace marks in this year's national eligibility cum entrance test (NEET) conducted by the national testing agency (NTA).

Addressing media in New Delhi, K Sanjay Murthy, secretary in the department of higher education, however, quashed the possibility of a paper leak during the NEET 2024.

Subodh Kumar Singh, director general of NTA, says the NEET exam issue is pertinent to six centres and nearly 1,600 candidates. "To allay the fear of 1,600 candidates, especially 23 lakh candidates, NTA has decided that a high-powered committee will analyse the recommendations of the grievance redressal committee. Thereby addressing all the issues again," he says.

According to Mr Singh, the review of marks for 1,563 students did not significantly affect the overall qualifying rate. "Among these students, 790 qualified, representing a 50.54% qualifying rate. This is comparable to the overall exam qualifying rate of 56%, achieved by 13.16 lakh students out of the initial 23.33 lakh who took the exam."

"The overall qualifying criteria have not been affected by the compensation provided to the respective candidates. Regarding the issue surrounding a particular centre, the students at that centre demonstrated a higher ability to score," he added.
 

The decision will be taken on the recommendations of the new committee that will analyse the results of the 1600 candidates

If needed, the result will be revised, as per the committee's recommendations

Whatever the decision, neither will it be unfavourable for the 23 lakh… pic.twitter.com/SmWp5CBrQd

— PIB India (@PIB_India) June 8, 2024

Our committee met and perused all the details of the centres, CCTVs and found that centre wise time was lost and the students should be compensated for the marks.

Addressing the grievances, the marks have been increased, accordingly.

Due to that, concern of some students have… pic.twitter.com/XJ9aISoHE6

— PIB India (@PIB_India) June 8, 2024

Several aspirants of the NEET have alleged inflation of marks which led to a record 67 candidates getting the top rank, including six from a same exam centre in Haryana.

Calling the paper leak issues and the results of this year's NEET a betrayal of the hard work and dreams of millions of students, the National Students' Union of India (NSUI) demanded an investigation into this matter monitored by the Supreme Court.

Earlier, NTA denied any irregularities and said the changes made in the NCERT textbooks and grace marks for losing time at the examination centres are some of the reasons behind the students scoring higher marks.

As reported by Moneylife, the results of this year's NEET examination are full of surprises, including the total number of students who have scored perfect 720 marks, compared with less than five students hitting the mark over the years. Not just a very high number of toppers, the NEET result also shows six toppers without a surname who scored perfect marks by appearing for the examination from the same centre in Haryana, as per their roll number. (Read: Something Is Not NEET. 6 Toppers Without a Surname Out of 67 Are from Same Centre in Haryana)