Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 20: The controversial centre in Haryana for the May 5 National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for Undergraduate (NEET-UG) medical admissions, where six students simultaneously scoring perfect 720 marks raised suspicion of wrongdoings, has shown contrasting result in re-test with only one student scoring the highest 682 marks with most others languishing far below.
In addition, only 13 students could cross 600 marks and the rest of the 480 students could not even touch 600, the minimum expected to get a seat in the medical colleges.
In keeping with the Supreme Court’s order, the National Testing Agency (NTA) on Saturday announced the centre and city-wise results of the NEET-UG examination which is under scanner over alleged irregularities. The results, initially declared on June 5, were re-published to mask the identities of the aspirants. This measure aimed to determine whether candidates from allegedly tainted centres scored disproportionately high marks compared to those from other centres.
An analysis of NEET data revealed that Hardayal Public School in Haryana’s Bahadurgarh had a total of 494 students appearing for the re-examination held under the apex court’s order on June 24. Among them, the highest score was 682, achieved by only one student. Additionally, only 13 students managed to score above 600 marks, a significant drop from the results of the May 5 exam.
The Supreme Court is hearing several petitions about the alleged irregularities in the conduct of the exam, including paper leak. The exam was conducted on May 5 at 4,750 centres in 571 cities, including 14 cities abroad, for more than 24 lakh candidates. The re-examination for those who were earlier granted grace marks for receiving question paper late, was held on June 24.
The Supreme Court will resume hearing the arguments on July 22 on a batch of pleas seeking cancellation, re-test and a court-monitored probe into the allegations of malpractice in the prestigious exam.
The controversy surrounding the Haryana centre began when the NEET exam data was uploaded, showing six students with perfect scores. The improbability of such a feat led to widespread suspicion and uproar. The Supreme Court intervened, cancelling the grace marks that had been awarded and ordering 1,563 candidates to retake the exam. Of these, about 800 students appeared for the re-examination.
In last original NEET-UG examination, over 500 students sat for the exam at the centre. Additionally, two candidates scored 718 and 719 marks respectively. These results were deemed mathematically improbable, prompting the Supreme Court to order a re-examination.
At the resumed hearing, the NTA is likely to inform the apex court that ‘change of exam centre’ was not an option given to candidates. Instead, they can only apply for ‘change of exam city’ — which can still be rejected by the agency. The NTA’s submission would be in response to the court’s query on how many students opted for change in exam centre for appearing in the NEET-UG 2024. The SC had asked the NTA to furnish details of candidates who changed exam centres and their respective results thereof. According to the NTA, candidates can apply for changes or corrections in fields in the application form, including the one for correction of exam city.
Approximately 1.25 lakh applications were received by the NTA overall from across the country for change of fields in the form. The agency, on July 22, will clarify that of these, how many were requests for change of exam city and what were the results of these candidates.
In case of Godhra, the centre in Gujarat, where there has been an allegation of malpractice, the NTA had told the court during the arguments on July 18 that 34 candidates had applied for change of exam city, of which only 14 applications were accepted for correction. Of these 14 candidates, only one has passed the exam.
The agency has told the court that in Godhra, there were only two exam centres where 1,860 and 654 students gave the exam on May 5 when NEET-UG was conducted across the country.
The agency maintains that in case of Godhra, where an attempt was made to manipulate the OMR sheets of some candidates, it was foiled through prompt action taken by the district administration. It also said an analysis of the results of candidates from these two centres does not show abnormally high scores which, in case of manipulation, would have been higher than the national average.
The NTA had also told the court that based on security measures taken by it for the conduct of the exam, 153 cases of unfair means have been reported, which were placed before the Unfair Means (UFM) committee, which submitted its recommendations for appropriate action on the same. The committee recommended withholding of the results of 81 candidates and debarment of 54 candidates up to three years.
The SC had on Thursday told the NTA to publish the results of all candidates of NEET-UG while masking their identity, city-wise and centre wise on its website by Saturday noon for transparency.
