NEET-UG 2024 | Giving Two Correct Options For One Question Didn't Affect Exam : NTA To Supreme Court
Gyanvi Khanna
6 July 2024 4:40 AM GMT
The National Testing Agency (NTA) recently refuted the allegation that a physics question in NEET-UG 2024 has adversely impacted the candidates because it had two correct options. The NTA refuted the challenge to the NEET-UG 2024 exam on this ground as “untenable.”
To support its arguments, the testing agency has cited one of the instructions in the information bulletin:
“If more than one option is found to be correct then Four marks (+4) will be awarded to only those who have marked any of the correct options."
It may be mentioned that among the pleas filed before the Top Court in NEET UG 2024 controversy, one of them alleged that one of the questions was "ambiguous" as it had two correct options. The plea filed by a NEET-UG candidate argued that she left the question unattempted to avoid negative marking and loss of rank.
It was also contended by the candidates that this was against the NTA's instruction of having only one correct option mentioned in the question booklet. Thus, a direction was sought to NTA to correct and re-publish the NEET (UG) 2024 results, ranks, and percentiles based on the revised marks.
However, citing the above stipulation mentioned in the information bulletin, NTA has refuted the candidates' contention.
“The plea/excuse claimed by the candidate that the question was not attempted as there was more than one correct option does not merit any consideration, in the light of the clear stipulation published in advance and consistently applied in previous examinations also.”
Elaborating, it said that after NTA opened a window to challenge provisional Answer Keys, it received 13,373 challenges to an answer of one of the questions in physics.
However, owing to the differences in the old and new editions of the NCERT textbook, the Expert(s) held that two options be taken as correct in place of one option.
This affidavit, filed by NTA, opposes the pleas for cancellation of the NEET-UG 2024 exam. The same has been filed in the case of Vanshika Yadav v. UOI. Therein, the petitioner had prayed to the Court that NEET UG exams should be conducted afresh in light of the alleged malpractices and paper leak of the exam.
Though the bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud issued notice on that petition and posted the matter in July, the bench stated that the results of the exams held on a pan-India basis cannot be stayed.
Yesterday, the Union Government had also filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court opposing the cancellation of the NEET-UG 2024 exam, saying that it is not rational to scrap the entire exam in the absence of any proof of large-scale breach of confidentiality.
"Scrapping the exam in its entirety would seriously jeopardise the lakhs of honest candidates who attempted the question paper in 2024," stated the affidavit filed by the Union Ministry of Education ahead of the Supreme Court hearing scheduled on July 8.
Case Details : Vanshika Yadav v. UOI W.P.(C) No. 000335 - / 2024
