New Delhi:

Amid concerns about the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for admission into medical colleges, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan admitted “improvements are needed” in the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts the nationwide exam for medical college aspirants. 

Speaking to news agency ANI, the minister assured action against NTA officials if they were found guilty of the “irregularities” in NEET 2024 (Undergraduate) exams.

“On the recommendations of the Supreme Court, the order has been given for retest of 1,563 candidates. Some irregularities have come to light in two places. I assure students and parents that the government has taken this seriously,” Dharmendra Pradhan told ANI.

“Even if the big officials of the NTA are found guilty, they will not be spared. A lot of improvement is required in NTA. The government is concerned about this, no culprit will be spared, they will get the harshest punishment,” he said.

Last week, the NTA told the Supreme Court that grace marks given to 1,563 candidates in the NEET-UG exam would be scrapped and the candidates had the option of taking the exam again on June 23. The results of the re-test will be declared before June 30, the top court was told.

If any of these candidates chose to not take the re-test, their earlier score would be reinstated without the extra marks.

Results for the medical entrance examination, which was taken by 24 lakh students on May 5, were declared on June 4. Allegations of an exam paper leak soon surfaced. As many as 67 students got a perfect score of 720/720.

Grace marks were given to several students allegedly to compensate for loss of time at the exam centre.

Many student organizations have protested over the alleged NEET irregularities, including wrong question papers being distributed, Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets being torn, or delays in the distribution of the sheets.

Amid opposition attacks over the exam row, the Education Minister had told NDTV that students and parents should not panic.

“Certain allegations and loose information are coming in. Let us wait for the probe by the authorities concerned. Let’s wait till July 8 for the Supreme Court’s judgment. There’s nothing to hide…” he told NDTV.

Amid allegations of a paper leak in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) (UG) 2024, hundreds of students, who appeared in the examination, on Saturday held a protest demanding re-examination.

The protesters assembled at the Dinkar roundabout, blocked the road and burnt effigies of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Patna police resorted to mild baton charges to disperse them. Protests are being held across the country over the alleged irregularities in the NEET (UG) exam.

The Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of Bihar Police, which is probing the allegations of a paper leak in the NEET (UG) 2024, on Saturday sent notices to 11 candidates who were suspected of involvement in the crime.

The notices were served to them after their names and roll codes were found from the possession of examination mafias. Of these 11 candidates, seven are girls who hail from different districts of Bihar.

The NTA, which earlier completely rejected any irregularities in NEET 2024, has provided the details of the 11 candidates to Bihar EOU.

Earlier, the EOU arrested 13 people, including six exam mafias, four candidates and three parents, and sent them to jail.

At the instance of the arrested accused, the EOU had found partially burnt question papers in Learn Play School located under the jurisdiction of Ramakrishna Nagar police station of Patna.

The EOU found the partially burnt question papers in booklet number 6136488, whose contents were the same as that of the NEET (UG) 2024 paper.

The EOU had asked for the original copy of booklet number 6136488 from the NTA about a month ago, but even after three reminders, the original copy has not been provided.

In their statement, the arrested candidates said they had received the question paper on May 4, a day before the examination and it was the same.

The NEET result, scheduled to come on June 14, was announced on June 4.

In the NEET (UG) examination, the most surprising aspect was that 67 candidates scored cent per cent marks and thousands of students scored more than 700 marks.

A total of 24 lakh candidates appeared for the exams and more than 13 lakh candidates passed it.

Grace marks were randomly given to 1,563 students while there was no such point mentioned in the notification of the exam.

The NTA said in the court that the grace marks of 1,563 students would be canceled and they will have to again appear in the exam on June 23.

However, the petitioner is not satisfied with just the cancellation of the grace marks

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)