The four-member panel headed by a former UPSC chairman will submit its recommendations within a week and the results of these candidates might be revised.
Amid an uproar over irregularities in this year’s NEET-UG result, the Union Education Ministry has set up a four-member panel to review the results of 1,500 candidates who received “grace marks”, while the National Testing Agency (NTA) has denied accusations of paper leak and any discrepancies in the result.
Many students including states like Maharashtra sought a re-test because of alleged irregularities while political parties like the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress demanded an SC-monitored Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe.
"A high-powered committee has been set up to review the results of over 1,500 candidates. The four-member panel headed by a former UPSC chairman will submit its recommendations within a week and the results of these candidates might be revised," NTA Director General Subodh Kumar Singh said at a press conference.
The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET)-UG results, which were expected to be released somewhere around June 14, were declared way earlier on June 4. Soon after, the unusually large number of candidates getting the perfect score of 720/720 with reports of candidates getting grace marks drew attention, after which there were calls from several quarters for a re-exam.
Sixty-seven candidates got the first rank in the exam including eight from the same center in Haryana.
These centers are from Meghalaya, Bahadurgarh in Haryana, Dantewada and Balodh in Chhattisgarh, Surat in Gujarat and Chandigarh.
A total of 1,563 students (six of whom got a spot in the top ranks) were given grace marks based on a normalization formula.
The NTA DG while explaining the rationale behind the awarding of grace marks said the process has been completed using a formula devised and adopted by the Supreme Court in a 2018 judgement.
Meanwhile, the NTA has maintained that there are no irregularities and clarified that the changes made in the NCERT textbooks and grace marks for losing time at the examination centers were some of the reasons behind the students scoring higher marks.
"The awarding of grace marks has not impacted the qualifying criteria of the exam and the review of results of the affected candidates will not impact the admission process, Singh added.
Responding to the question of whether the exam will be re-conducted for certain students, Subodh Kumar said, it will be decided depending upon the committee's recommendations.
Reportedly, a former UPSC chairman and three other academicians have been selected for this panel, which is expected to announce its verdict before June 15.
Many students have filed petitions in several high courts, including one filed by a NEET UG candidate in Delhi HC. Another PIL has been filed before the division bench of the Calcutta HC.
"The number of candidates who appeared in 2023 was 20,38,596 while the number of candidates who appeared in 2024 increased to 23,33,297. The increase in candidates naturally led to an increase in high scorers due to a larger pool of candidates," Singh said.
The NEET-UG 2024 was held on May 5, with more than 24 lakh students taking the exam in 4,750 centers spread over 571 cities nationwide and 14 cities outside India.
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