No grace marks as Oppn tests Centre over NEET
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 will have the option to either take a re-test or forgo the compensatory marks awarded to them for loss of time.
Meanwhile, as protests mushroomed across the country over the conduct of the national-level test this year, the opposition has taken it up to pin the new government at the Centre and is all set to raise the issue in the Parliament when it convenes later this month.
Refusing to stall the counselling, scheduled to commence on 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 the 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.
Appearing for the Centre and the National Testing Agency (NTA), advocate Kanu Agarwal said the committee 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 It was of the view that the grace marks be withdrawn and replaced with an option of re-test, which will be conducted on June 23.
The committee said awarding grace marks on the grounds of loss of time resulted in a “skewed situation” as it had to be limited only to the questions that remained un-attempted. After examining all aspects, the panel concluded that it would be appropriate to recommend the cancellation of scorecards of these beneficiaries.
The re-test results will be declared on June 30 and the counselling for admissions to MBBS, BDS, and other courses will start on July 6, the Centre said.
“The results of the affected candidates who do not wish to appear for the re-examination will be declared on their actual marks without compensation obtained by them in the examination held on May 5, and the marks obtained by the candidates who will appear in the retest will be considered and their marks based on the examination held on May 5, will be discarded,” the bench noted in the order.
Indicating what is in store in the coming Parliament session, the first since the present Narendra Modi regime took over, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge reiterated the demand for a Supreme Court-monitored probe, while Gaurav Gogoi asserted that the anger in the country over the matter will “reverberate inside Parliament”.