NEET UG 2024 row: Grace marks awarded may be revised, admission process not to be impacted, says NTA DG Subodh Singh

Amid protests by medical aspirants across the nation over the alleged inflation of marks in NEET UG 2024 results, the National Testing Agency (NTA) on Saturday said the education ministry has set up a four-member panel to review the grace marks awarded to more than 1,500 candidates and the results of these candidates might be revised.

Addressing a press conference in the national capital, NTA Director General Subodh Kumar Singh said, “The panel headed by a former UPSC chairman will submit its recommendations within a week, and the results of these candidates might be revised.”

“The awarding of grace marks has not impacted the qualifying criteria of the exam, and the review of results of the affected candidates will not impact the admission process,” he said.

The NTA Director General said, ” We have analysed everything transparently and declared the results. Out of 4,750 centres, the problem was limited to six centres, and out of 24 lakh candidates, there were only 1,600 candidates. The integrity of this exam throughout the The country was not compromised. We analysed our system and there was no paper leak.”

“There were certain issues raised by the candidates. This is the largest competitive exam in the world or country, which happens in a single shift with about 24 lakh candidates and 4,750 centres. The scale of this examination is one of the largest. There were Issues at about six centres affecting about 16,000 candidates because of the wrong distribution of question papers… candidates alleged that they got less time,” Singh added.

Singh further added that the NTA had formed a grievance redressal committee. That committee looked into all the details of the time loss of about 1,600 candidates from six centres. Based on the set patterns implemented in 2018 and a Supreme Court judgement, they came out with recommendations. And on that basis, the compensatory marks were given, but still there are some concerns about that.

Several aspirants of the medical entrance exam NEET have alleged inflation of marks which led to a record 67 candidates bagging the top rank, including six from the same exam centre.

The National Testing Agency (NTA), however, denied any irregularities and said the changes made in the NCERT textbooks and grace marks for losing time at the examination centres were some of the reasons behind the students scoring higher marks.