In a fresh turn of events in the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET-UG) controversy, a fresh petition has alleged involvement of officials of the National Testing Agency in manipulating OMR sheets.

The National Testing Agency (NTA) facilitates the conduct of NEET exams. A fresh petition before the Apex court has alleged the involvement of officials of the NTA in manipulating the OMR sheets of NEET exam.

The Vacation Bench of Justices Manoj Misra and S V N Bhatti, however adjourned the hearing of the same to next week and directed the petitioner to withdraw a similar petition filed before the High Court.

Previously, the court refused to defer the counselling process for NEET and also said that even a 0.0001 percent discrepancy with respect to the exams must be looked into considering the efforts that students put in.

The other developments include

Stakeholder consultations

The union government constituted a committee to give recommendations on better conduct of examinations and will meet stakeholders to seek feedback.

Committee chairperson and former director of ISRO, Dr K Radhakrishnan has said that they would have consultations with parents and students seeking to know their concerns and suggestions to develop a robust and tamper-proof system for entrance exams in the country.

Abolish exams

As the NEET row deepens by the day, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamatha Banerjee has written to prime minister Narendra Modi to abolish the medical entrance exam. In the letter, she has also sought strict action to be initiated against those involved in the controversy.

“I urge you to consider and take immediate steps to restore the previous system of conducting this examination by the state governments and abolish the NEET examination. This will help restore normalcy and confidence of the aspirant students in the system,” she said.