New Delhi. The controversy over giving grace marks in the medical admission exam NEET-UG (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate) has come to an end. The National Testing Agency (NTA) told the Supreme Court on Thursday, before the hearing on this matter began, that the grace marks given to 1,563 students due to time wastage have been cancelled. The normal marks (without grace marks) of all these students will be released soon. All of them will also be given a chance to appear in the exam again.

Allegations of irregularities

There have been allegations of inflated marks in NEET-UG, which led to a record 67 candidates securing perfect scores and sharing the top rank. Last year, only two students had shared the top rank. Students alleged that the marks of many candidates were randomly increased or decreased, affecting their ranks.

Grace marks given to more than 1,500 students to compensate for the loss of time due to delay in the examination at six centers are under investigation. There have also been allegations of paper leak. Bihar Police's Economic Offenses Wing had last month said citing its investigation that NEET-UG question papers and answers were made available to about 35 candidates before the May 5 exam. So far 13 persons have been arrested in this case.

Grace marks given

Students from at least six centres in Meghalaya, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Surat and Chandigarh had complained of wasting time during the exam. Students at these places were not given the full three hours and 20 minutes to write the exam due to administrative reasons.

These administrative reasons include distribution of wrong question paper, torn OMR sheet or delay in distribution of OMR sheet. A committee formed by NTA investigated the matter and adopted the formula formulated by the court to compensate the candidates for their wasted time. Their wasted time was ascertained and grace marks were given.

NTA's stance

The NTA says the sanctity of the exam has not been compromised. It attributed the increase in the number of top scorers to the competitiveness of the exam and the rise in performance standards. According to officials, 1,563 candidates have been given grace marks to compensate for loss of time. Of the 67 candidates who scored 720 out of 720 marks, 44 were given grace marks due to correction in the answer key of Physics and six for loss of time.

Political controversies

The Congress has demanded a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the exam and said the anger in the country over the matter will be echoed in Parliament as well. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi accused the education minister of protecting the NTA and claimed that the Bihar police investigation had found the paper leak.

The Maharashtra government has demanded the cancellation of the exam and alleged that its results have caused injustice to the students of the state. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin reiterated that NEET is against social justice and federalism. The Aam Aadmi Party has also demanded a Supreme Court-monitored investigation.