NEET UG 2024 row: Plea in Supreme Court challenges ‘grace marks’ grant | Top 7 updates

A writ petition has been submitted to the Supreme Court contesting the National Testing Agency's (NTA) decision to award grace marks to students in this year's National Entrance cum Eligibility Test (NEET) for admission to undergraduate medical programs, according to a LiveLaw report. 

The petitioner argues that the improper use of the 'normalization formula' to grant grace marks is unlawful, and arbitrary and contravenes Articles 14 and 21 of the Indian Constitution. 

They asserted that this formula should not be applied in this context since the exam is designed to evaluate subject knowledge directly. The formula awards marks based on the assumption of knowledge rather than actual assessment, LiveLaw reported. 

Here are top updates on NEET scam, 

1) On Sunday, the National Testing Agency (NTA) has set up a committee to review the grace marks awarded to NEET UG 2024 candidates amid allegations of mark inflation, as per ANI reports. 

2) The Ministry of Education also formed a committee to review the grace marks awarded to over 1,500 candidates. Many candidates claimed that the inflated marks led to 67 candidates achieving the top rank, with six of them coming from the same exam centre in Haryana.

3) “They (the committee) will meet soon and they will be able to submit their recommendation within a week,” said Director General of the National Testing Agency (NTA), Subodh Kumar Singh. 

4) Congress leader Srinivas BV called for an investigation into the purported irregularities in the NEET-UG 2024 examination. "...24 lakh students took the exam (NEET). How can 67 students secure Rank 1 and that too of the same centre? The students and their parents have raised their voices...Inquiry should be done...," he told ANI. 

5) Indian Youth Congress members protested on Raisina Road on Sunday, alleging manipulation in the NEET-UG 2024 exam results. "We have to fight to get justice for the aggrieved students," One of the protesters said as quoted by ANI. 

6) Congress MP Rahul Gandhi also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the alleged irregularities, as he promised to become the voice of the students in Parliament.

7) "Narendra Modi has not even taken oath yet and the scam in NEET exam has devastated more than 24 lakh students and their families. Six students from the same exam centre top the exam with maximum marks, many get such marks which are technically not possible, but the government is continuously denying the possibility of paper leak," the Congress leader said. 

(With inputs from agencies)