Panel to review grace marks to 1,500 NEET candidates

Announced on June 4, the results drew immediate attention for the extraordinarily large number of candidates who got the perfect score of 720/720 and for the fact that some candidates got 718 or 719 — marks others claimed were impossible to get in the scheme of the exam. There have also been allegations of a paper leak, which the NTA has denied.

On Saturday, NTA Director General Subodh Kumar Singh denied irregularities in the results. He attributed the unusually high number of top rankers (67) to a relatively easier paper this year and the agency’s decision to award additional marks to students whose exams did not start on time. Singh, however, also told reporters that a committee will look into the results of the 1,500 candidates who were awarded grace marks.

A former UPSC chairman and three other academicians have been selected for this panel, which is expected to announce its verdict before next Saturday.

The verdict will not affect other results, the NTA said. “We are aware that the counselling process (for MBBS courses) is about to begin, but this will not affect the admission process. This special committee will give their verdict before next Saturday and accordingly the next step will be taken, but we are trying our best to ensure there is no hiccup in the admission process,” Singh told The Indian Express.

As of now, 1,563 students (six of whom got a spot in the top ranks) were given grace marks based on a normalisation formula, which the NTA has not shared. These candidates were from six centres — two in Chhattisgarh (one each in Balod and Dantewada), one each in Meghalaya, Surat, Haryana’s Bahadurgarh, and Chandigarh.

Meanwhile, students have filed petitions in a number of high courts.

One of these petitions, filed by a NEET UG candidate in Delhi HC, challenged the final answer key of question number 29 in Physics as well as the compensatory time given to the candidates at a few centres.

Another PIL, filed before the division bench of the Calcutta HC , challenged the award of 718 or 719 marks to some candidates in NEET UG 2024.

Additionally, a writ petition has been filed by another NEET UG candidate before the Supreme Court. The court, while hearing the matter on May 17, issued notice to the respondents and listed the matter for July 8.