New Delhi:

The Supreme Court today issued notice on a fresh batch of petitions filed by the National Testing Agency (NTA), seeking the transfer of NEET petitions pending before the high courts, to the top court.

A Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said that the pleas will be taken up on Thursday along with other petitions alleging paper leak, irregularities in the medical entrance exam.

The NEET-UG exam – held annually for admission to undergraduate medical courses – were conducted on May 5. The controversy broke last month after results were announced.

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 organisations 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.

After the UG paper controversy, and the cancelling of the UGC-NET exam, for appointment to professorial posts in colleges and universities, the NEET-PG exam was cancelled.

The NEET-PG exam will now be held later this month.

The incident also triggered a political row, with the opposition Congress-led INDIA bloc attacking the ruling BJP in Parliament, forcing ruckus and chaos in both Houses as MPs debated the Motion of Thanks to President Droupadi Murmu’s joint address.