NEET row: Centre forms NTA review committee; 4 arrested
NEW DELHI: Under fire over alleged irregularities in the UGC-NEET medical entrance examination and the cancellation of the UGC-NET exam, the Centre on Thursday formed a high-level committee to review the functioning of the National Testing Agency (NTA).
“We are committed to holding zero-error exams, and a high-level committee is being formed to improve NTA functioning,” Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said at a briefing.
“Recommendations will be expected from that high-level committee to further improve the NTA, its structure, functioning, examination process, transparency, and data security protocol. Strict action will be taken against any official of the NTA if found guilty,” Pradhan said.
“I want to assure everyone that the government is committed to protecting students’ rights. We will not compromise on transparency,” the minister said.
“We have received inputs from the Bihar government about the NEET examination. Patna Police is investigating the matter, and they will soon send a detailed report to the Government of India. Preliminary information indicates that errors were limited to a specific region,” Pradhan added. “Let us have faith in our systems; no irregularities or malpractices will be tolerated by the government,” the minister said.
Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court sought responses from the Centre, the National Testing Agency (NTA), and others on a slew of petitions, including those seeking the scrapping of the NEET-UG 2024 exam and a court-monitored probe, amid mounting outrage over alleged irregularities in conducting the all-India medical entrance test.The apex court also stayed further proceedings on similar pleas pending before different high courts. The top court, however, made it clear that it will not stay the counselling process. A vacation bench of Justices Vikram Nath and SVN Bhatti issued notices to the parties seeking their responses on four separate pleas filed by the NTA seeking the transfer of some pending petitions, including those claiming paper leaks, from high courts to the apex court.
As the bench issued notices on the NTA’s petitions, the counsel appearing for the testing agency urged it to stay the related proceedings before different high courts. “Issue notice returnable on July 8,” the bench said, adding, “In the meantime, further proceedings before the high courts shall remain stayed.”
It also dealt with several other petitions, including the one filed by 20 aspirants seeking the scrapping of the exam held on May 5. These 20 petitioners, represented by advocate Dheeraj Singh, have also sought a direction to the NTA and others to conduct the test afresh. The bench said all the pleas would be heard on July 8. The Centre and the NTA had on June 13 told the top court that they had 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 retest or forgo the compensatory marks awarded to them for the loss of time, the Centre had said.
The examination was held on May 5 across 4,750 centres, and around 24 lakh candidates took it. The results were expected to be declared on June 14 but were announced on June 4, apparently because the evaluation of the answer sheets got completed earlier.
The allegations have led to protests in several cities and sparring between rival political parties. As many as 67 students scored a perfect 720, unprecedented in the NTA’s history, with six from a centre in Haryana’s Faridabad figuring in the list, raising suspicions about irregularities. It has been alleged that grace marks contributed to 67 students sharing the top rank.
The NEET-UG examination is conducted by the NTA for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH, and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country.
The raging controversy over the issue of irregularities in the NEET exam took a new turn when four arrested men reportedly confessed that the question paper for the medical entrance exam was leaked the previous night. Student protests rocked the country last week over allegations of the NEET-UG 2024 paper leak and grace marks awarded to over 1,500 aspirants.
The four men arrested from Bihar include aspirant Anurag Yadav, his uncle Sikandar - a junior engineer at Danapur municipal council - and two others - Nitish Kumar and Amit Anand.
They admitted that they received the question paper the day prior to the exam and were made to memorise it. In a statement to the Bihar cops, they said the exact questions were asked in the exam the next day. Anurag Yadav, who was preparing for the exam in the coaching hub of Kota, said his uncle asked him to return since he had planned to leak the paper. “I was made to read and memorise it at night. When I went for the exam, I found the same questions which I had memorised correctly. After the exam, the police came and caught me, and I confessed my crime,” he said. Sikandar claimed that the other two accused, Nitish Kumar and Amit Anand, told him they could leak the question paper of any competitive exam and it would cost Rs 30-32 lakh for each aspirant to clear NEET.
“I agreed and told them I have four boys (who need help in passing the exam). On June 4 night, I took them with me and Nitish Kumar and Amit Anand gave them the question paper. Out of greed, I had also asked them for Rs 40 lakh each instead of Rs 30 lakh,” he reportedly told the police.
Anurag’s scorecard issued by the NTA shows that he scored 185 marks out of 720. His total percentile score is 54.84 (rounded off). But a look at his scores in individual subjects throws up a bizarre mismatch of numbers. Anurag scored 85.8 percentile in Physics and 51 percentile in Biology. But his Chemistry is as low as 5 percentile. With the 22-year-old admitting that he got the questions a day before the exam, these scores suggest that he did not get enough time to memorise the Chemistry answers.
Ever since the results of the all-India exam for admission to MBBS, BDS, and AYUSH courses were declared on June 4, multiple irregularities have surfaced. The high cut-off this time has left many students wondering if they would get a medical college seat or not. Nationwide protests have broken out as aspirants demand a retest.
