THE JHARKHAND STORY DESK
New Delhi, June 20: While affirming that counselling will continue, the Supreme Court on Thursday halted proceedings before several High Courts in cases pertaining to purported paper leaks in the NEET-UG 2024 exam.
Notice to NTA, Centre
The Supreme Court has issued notices regarding a petition from the National Testing Agency (NTA) that seeks to transfer cases related to NEET-UG 2024 from the High Courts to the Supreme Court.
Additionally, the Centre and the NTA received a notice following a petition that alleged students taking the NEET-UG exam at the Meghalaya centre lost 45 minutes of exam time.
A vacation bench of Justices Vikram Nath and SVN Bhatti also asked for responses from the parties concerning separate petitions filed by the NTA, aiming to transfer some pending cases from the High Courts to the Supreme Court.
They have requested to be included among the 1,563 students who received grace marks and were given the option to retake the exam on June 23.
The case is scheduled for its next hearing on July 8.
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SC earlier stated that even 0.001% negligence must be fully addressed
Earlier on Tuesday, the Supreme Court said that even if there is negligence of 0.001 per cent from any side in the conduct of NEET-UG 2024 examination, it should be completely dealt with.
Justices Vikram Nath and S.V. Bhatti’s vacation bench of the Supreme Court directed lawyers representing the Central Government and the National Testing Agency (NTA), stating that any negligence, even if it is 0.001 percent, must be fully addressed.
“If there is 0.001 per cent negligence on the part of anyone, it should be thoroughly dealt with. All these matters ought not to be treated as adversarial litigation,” the bench stated.
NTA cancelled grace marks of 1563 students
Amid the growing controversy surrounding the NEET-UG examination, the NTA informed the Supreme Court on Thursday that the decision to award grace marks to 1,563 candidates for NEET-UG 2024 has been revoked. These candidates will now have the option to retake the exam on June 23.
Those students who do not wish to reappear for the exam will retain their original scores without grace marks. Furthermore, the results of this exam will be announced on June 30.