NEET-UG 2024: Education Minister denies paper leak, says ‘don’t play politics’ to Congress

Amid allegations of paper leak and irregularities in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) exam by students and the Opposition parties, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has denied these accusations, saying no concrete evidence of paper leak has been found and appropriate action will be taken on the orders by the Supreme Court.

His remark came on June 13 after the committee formed by the National Testing Agency (NTA) told the Supreme Court that 1,563 students, who were given grace marks, would be given the option to take re-test on June 23.

Responding to a tweet by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge in which he alleged corruption and paper leak in the NEET-UG exam, Pradhan said “ No concrete evidence of any kind of rigging, corruption or paper leak has been found so far in the NEET exam. All the facts related to this are before the Supreme Court and are under consideration.”

“I want to remind the Congress that, to prevent paper leaks and ensure a cheating-free exam, the Central Government has passed the Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act this year, which includes many strict provisions. Congress should not be under the misconception that no action will be taken if any collusion is found. The provisions of this Act will be enforced very carefully," Pradhan said in a post in Hindi on X.

After the NEET-UG 2024 results were declared on June 4, the students from many quarters pointed out discrepancies in the results. In an unusual coincidence, a total of 67 candidates secured the perfect score of 720/720. Over 1500 candidates also received grace marks with many students alleging that there was a paper leak.

The four-member committee, led by a former UPSC Chairman and three academicians, decided that all 1,563 students would be given two options — either to accept the score that they were originally awarded, without the grace marks, or re-appear for the exam on June 23.

If the students choose not to take the re-test, their marks will be re-calculated after deducting the grace marks awarded in the examination.

The decision was announced following a comprehensive review of the normalization policy that was adopted for these candidates.

The affected candidates, who were from six centers across India, were awarded "grace marks" to compensate for the "loss of time" suffered while appearing for this year's NEET-UG.

Responding to controversy revolving around grace marks, Dharmendra Pradhan said, “The model used for more than 1,500 candidates was recommended by the court. Let the court's decision come. We will implement whatever the court decides.”

Meanwhile, the apex court has also said all the pleas seeking cancellation of NEET-UG, 2024 alleging question paper leaks and other malpractices, including the one filed by Alakh Pandey, the chief executive of EdTech firm Physics Wallah over the issue of award of grace marks, will be taken up for hearing on July 8.

Moreover, the court has sought the NTA's response on issues other than the compensatory marks. The NEET-UG exam was held by the NTA on May 5 across 4,750 centers and around 24 lakh candidates took it.