Top Court Raps NTA In NEET Row; Says “Even If 0.001% Negligence…”

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday came down heavily on the National Testing Agency (NTA) amid rising concerns about the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for admission into medical colleges.

The apex court said, “If there’s even 0.001% negligence on anyone’s part, it should be thoroughly dealt with.”

The Supreme Court was hearing a batch of petitions over the alleged irregularities in the NEET exam. The Supreme Court said that it expects a “timely action” from the NTA and that the agency must ensure that all candidates are treated fairly.

“As an agency which is conducting the examination, you must act fair. If there is a mistake, say yes, this is a mistake, and this is the action we are going to take. At least that inspires confidence in your performance,” a bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice SVN Bhatti told the NTA.

“Imagine a person who has played fraud on the system becomes a doctor, he is more deleterious to the society. Children study hard to get through NEET”, the court added.

The next hearing in the case will be held on July 8.

Results for the medical entrance examination 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.