NEET Scam: Supreme Court Issues Fresh Notice To NTA Over Alleged 'Inconsistent Marks'

New Delhi: Supreme Court on Thursday issued a notice to National Testing Agency (NTA) in response to a petition filed by a learning app alleging rigging in recent NEET-UG exams. court has asked NTA to reply to notice by July 8, date set for hearing on matter. 

petition flagged serious concerns regarding integrity of NEET-UG examination conducted on May 5. results, released on June 4, have been embroiled in controversy due to allegations of irregularities and malpractice. petitioners assert that more than 1,500 students received grace marks, which has substantially impacted overall rankings and exam's fairness. Represented by a coaching center and or students, petitioners are vocating for student's right to access ir Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets.

Earlier this week, CBI took over five new cases of alleged malpractices in medical entrance exam NEET-UG that were being investigated by police in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Bihar, as political storm intensified with opposition trying to corner government in Parliament on paper leak issue.

In Maharashtra, Opposition members staged a protest on premises of Maharashtra Vidhan Bhavan as monsoon session of state legislature commenced today. protesters, belonging to Maha Vikas Aghi (MVA) comprising Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress and NCP (SP), raised slogans against government over issues related to farmers and NEET exam.

On Wednesday, a CBI team visited a school in Jharkhand's Hazaribag and quizzed its principal in connection with alleged irregularities in medical entrance test NEET. CBI team interrogated principal of Oasis School Dr Ehsanul Haque, who was district coordinator of NEET-UG exam in Hazaribag, for several hours and took him to a Charhi-based guest house in Hazaribag where he and a few or persons were reportedly quizzed till late evening, sources said.

Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO), Hazaribag Sar, Kumar Shivashish said that y came to know about investigation from or sources but y have not been officially communicated in this regard. Sources said that a 12-member CBI team reached Hazaribag on Tuesday evening. An eight-member team visited school on Wednesday and some of team members also visited main branch of State Bank of India (SBI) in district, as manager of bank was reportedly custodian of question papers.

bank h reportedly received question papers sent by a courier service operator in an e-rickshaw, sources ded. CBI team members, however, refused to divulge anything to media persons. y said that y would submit investigation report to ir hequarters.

Haque, while talking to media persons on Tuesday, h denied any tempering of question papers in Hazaribag and termed allegations as baseless.

Earlier, a three-member probe team of Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of Bihar Police on June 23 visited school and inquired about conduct of test and mechanism to open digital locks of question paper boxes.  On June 21, Bihar Police detained six people from Jharkhand's Deoghar district in connection with alleged irregularities in medical entrance exam.

NEET-UG was conducted by NTA on May 5 with around 24 lakh candidates taking part in it. results were announced on June 4, but y were followed by allegations of question paper leaks in states such as Bihar, besides or irregularities.