New Delhi: Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday dismissed allegations of a paper leak in the NEET-UG medical entrance examination amid the ongoing protests by students over the results, claiming that there was no evidence to support such claims.
“There is no paper leak, no proof has been found yet. A court-recommended model was adopted for around 1560 students and a panel of academicians has been formed for the same,” Dharmendra Pradhan said at a press conference.
The National Testing Agency (NTA) conducted the NEET exam on May 5 across 4,750 centres, with about 24 lakh candidates appearing in it. Originally, the results were scheduled for June 14 but were announced earlier on June 4 due to faster evaluation of answer sheets. A total of 67 students achieved a perfect score of 720, a first in NTA’s history. Six students from a centre in Faridabad, Haryana, were among them, sparking concerns about possible irregularities.
During the press conference, Pradhan said, “I want to assure the students and their parents that the Indian government and its instrument NTA are committed to providing justice to them in a way that is transparent and relieving for them. This time 24 lakh students have successfully taken the NEET examination.”
Several petitions were submitted to the Supreme Court asking to cancel the NEET-UG 2024 results and to redo the exam, claiming that the test on May 5 was marred by leaked papers and misconduct. On Thursday, the apex court disposed of petitions against the NTA, giving grace marks in NEET-UG 2024. The court accepted the Centre’s suggestion to allow 1,563 candidates to retake the exam due to lost time during the May 5 test.
“Everything will be open in front of the court. Let us wait for the court’s verdict. We will accept the verdict of the Court,” the education minister said.
He added, “Two sets of questions are always there in 4,000 centres. On the same day, they are informed which set of questions should be opened. In six centres, they opened the wrong set of paper by mistake. So, fixing it took 30-40 minutes. Two sets of questions are not new, this practice has been going on for years.”
