Grace marks withdrawn, re-exam on June 23

Grace marks withdrawn, re-exam on June 23
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Highlights

Number of top rankers to go down to 61 from 67; No evidence of paper leak, Oppn spreading lies without knowing facts: Pradhan; anger in country over NEET exam will 'reverberate inside Parliament': Cong slams govt

New Delhi : Amid a raging row over the NEET-UG examination, the Centre told the Supreme Court on Thursday it has cancelled the grace marks given to 1,563 candidates who took the examination for admission to MBBS and other such courses. They will have the option to either take a re-test or forgo the compensatory marks awarded to them for loss of time. Refusing to stall the counselling for NEET-UG, 2024, scheduled to commence from July 6, the top court made it clear that the admission of successful candidates to medical colleges and other institutions will be subject to the outcome of the petitions which have sought reliefs like cancellation of the examination held on May 5 on grounds of question paper leak and other malpractices.

A vacation bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta termed as "fairly reasonable" the decision to cancel the grace marks awarded to 1,563 candidates on the recommendation of a panel set up to look into the grievances voiced by the petitioners. The National Testing Agency (NTA) conducts the all India pre-medical entrance test. At the outset, lawyer Kanu Agarwal, appearing for the Centre and the NTA, said the committee set up to look into the grievances decided on June 12 to "allay the fears of the students". It was of the view that the grace marks be withdrawn and replaced with an option of re-test for these candidates which will be conducted on June 23.

The number of top rankers in NEET-UG will go down to 61 from 67 after the National Testing Agency's decision to withdraw grace marks awarded to 1,563 students, officials said on Thursday.

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan rejected allegations of paper leak or rigging in the medical entrance exam NEET-UG, saying there is no evidence to substantiate the claims, and accused the opposition of spreading lies without knowing facts.

The Congress again demanded a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the NEET exam issue, and asserted that the anger in the country over the matter will "reverberate inside Parliament as well".

The opposition party also sought the removal of the National Testing Agency (NTA) Director General and claimed that the BJP government's attitude towards the ongoing demand for an inquiry into the NEET examination is "irresponsible and insensitive". Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said that in the last 10 years, the Modi government has ruined the future of crores of youth through paper leaks and rigging. "Grace Marks was not the only problem in NEET exam. There has been rigging, papers have been leaked, corruption has taken place. The future of 24 lakh students appearing in the NEET examination is at stake due to the actions of the Modi government," the Congress president said.

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