Calcutta High Court Seeks Response from NTA on Alleged Irregularities in NEET (UG) 2024 [Read Order]

Calcutta: The Calcutta High Court has recently directed the National Testing Agency (NTA) to file an affidavit explaining the marking scheme and the implementation of reservation policies in the NEET (UG) 2024 examination. This directive comes in response to a public interest litigation alleging irregularities in the conduct of the medical entrance test.

The division bench, comprising Justices Kausik Chanda and Apurba Sinha Ray, issued the order after petitioner Tanmoy Chattopadhyay raised concerns over the scoring system employed in NEET (UG) 2024. He alleged that certain candidates could not have scored 718 or 719 marks according to the applicable marking/score system.

The respondent no.1 shall file an affidavit within a period of ten days from the date in response to the allegations made in this writ petition. The affidavit should also disclose how the reservation policy of the State as well as the Central Government has been followed in preparing the merit list, the Court said.

The court noted that the justification for such an exercise cannot be determined without a formal response from the NTA, which is responsible for conducting NEET. The NTA had reportedly sought to justify the scoring process based on the Supreme Courts judgment in Akshat Aggarwal & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors., but the High Court maintained that the agency must provide a detailed explanation through an affidavit.

The court has also ordered the NTA to preserve all records pertaining to the NEET (UG) 2024 examination until further orders. The judges stated that the outcome of the counseling process shall abide by the final result of the writ petition. The matter has been listed for hearing after two weeks.

[Read Order]