The Supreme Court of India is hearing several petitions surrounding discrepancies in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Exam for Undergraduate (NEET UG) 2024. One of these petitions is filed by Alakh Pandey, Chief Executive Officer of EdTech giant, PhysicsWallah.
Today, June 11, Pandey moved the Supreme Court against the “arbitrary” awarding of grace marks to at least 1,500 candidates by the National Testing Agency (NTA). In his petition, Pandey stated that the NTA has been inefficient in explaining the formula it used to award said grace marks.
Further, the signatures of 20,000 students collected by Pandey showcased that 70 to 80 marks have been awarded to the candidates at random.
“A full investigation needed”
Speaking to EdexLive, Advocate Rohit Jain, the counsel-on-record for Pandey and Managing Partner of law firm Singhania and Co, stated that they want the NTA to issue a proper response to the issues raised in the petition.
“How the NTA has been responding to various concerns from the aspirants, that is by issuing statements on social media, is extremely inadequate and does not give us the full picture. However, it is clear that the NTA is maintaining its stance that there have been no discrepancies in the exam,” Jain explained.
As a result, the petitioners hope that the Supreme Court directs the NTA to respond to the petition.
“The NTA must provide adequate documents and calculations for the marks awarded, as well as the CCTV camera footage of the candidates to justify the grace marks awarded,” Jain stated. He added that the Supreme Court must also be firm in its directions to ensure that the NTA responds with full transparency.
Based on the response provided by the NTA, the petitioners then demand that an investigation be conducted into the discrepancies in the marks. “An investigation committee, set up under the aegis of the Supreme Court must look into the responses to our petition by the NTA,” Jain said.
Lastly, based on the investigation’s outcome, the petitioners demand attempts towards course correction. “The lives of numerous students are being affected by these discrepancies. There must be a path for rectification,” Jain stated.
Moreover, the petitioners want to make it clear to the court that their petition is different from the other petitions submitted to the Supreme Court. Jain states that they are challenging the arbitrary grace marks awarded to the students, and demand an investigation into the matter.
The petition is listed to be heard tomorrow, June 12.
Today’s Supreme Court Hearing
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court heard a petition seeking the cancellation of NEET UG 2024 due to alleged paper leaks and issued notice to the NTA, stating that the exam’s “sanctity has been affected".
However, the court refused to order a stay in the counselling sessions of NEET UG for this academic year.
Speaking on the absence on the stay despite such serious allegations, Jain speculates that this was motivated by a lack of urgency in the matter.
“The dates of the counselling have not been announced yet, and this period is the Supreme Court vacation. Maybe they did not feel the need to act so swiftly,” he claimed.
However, he also added that the Supreme Court might be setting up the case for a full court hearing, once the courts reopen. This case has been adjourned till July 8.
