News Update: NEET-UG 2024 Supreme Court Hearing!

NEET-UG 2024 Supreme Court Hearing: There is no evidence of large-scale rigging in NEET-UG 2024. The central government made this claim in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court on Wednesday. The Supreme Court will hear the matter on July 11. The Center has cited the IIT-Madras report in the affidavit. The government reiterated that it does not want to conduct NEET-UG again. According to the Center, doing so on the basis of 'unfounded suspicions' will put a burden on about 24 lakh students. In the affidavit, the Center has said to start the counseling process in the third week of July. Counseling will be done in four phases. The National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts NEET-UG, has also filed a separate affidavit. Know in 5 points what are the important things from the student's point of view in both the affidavits.

1. No manipulation: In its affidavit, the central government said that experts from IIT Madras conducted a technical analysis of the NEET-UG 2024 data. It did not find any indication of large-scale manipulation or any local advantage to candidates leading to abnormal marks. The data showed that there was an overall increase in the marks obtained by students, especially between 550 and 720, and this increase was seen across different cities and centers.
2. No re-exam: On the issue of re-conducting NEET-UG 2024, the government said that it is not in favor of it. According to the Center, it does not want about 24 lakh candidates should be burdened on the basis of 'baseless suspicion'. In an earlier affidavit, the Center had said that the future of lakhs of honest candidates would be in danger if the exam is held again.
3. Counselling plan: The central government said it intends to begin the counseling process in the third week of July. It will be conducted in four phases. The government said IIT Madras has been requested to investigate those involved in irregularities through data analysis. If evidence from that or other sources shows that any candidate has benefited, their counseling will be canceled at any stage during or after the process.
4. Future plans: Apart from a CBI probe, the Centre has also proposed a seven-member expert panel to look into all the issues raised so that no such leaks or irregularities take place in future exams.
5. NTA affidavit: In a separate affidavit, the NTA said the total number of actual candidates whose final score showed 720 marks was only 61. The NTA denied the petitioners' allegations that 67 candidates had scored full marks. The NTA termed the allegation as 'misleading and incorrect'. According to the NTA, six out of the 67 had scored 720 marks in view of the grace marks given due to loss of time at the Jhajjar center. Of the 61 candidates, only 17 scored 720/720 marks based on the provisional answer key and 44 due to correction in an answer key of Physics. The NTA argued, 'The actual candidates without correction of answer key were only 17 which is not much higher than previous years… These 17 candidates had appeared in the examination at 16 centers located in 15 cities.'