On Thursday, June 20, the Supreme Court refused to stay the re-test scheduled for June 23 for the 1,563 candidates who had been granted grace marks in the NEET-UG 2024 exam. The National Testing Agency (NTA) had revoked its controversial decision to award grace marks and instead offered the candidates a re-test option.
A writ petition challenging the NTA’s decision to offer the re-test was filed and considered by a vacation bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and SVN Bhatti. While the bench agreed to issue a notice on the petition, it declined to stay the re-test.
The petitioner’s counsel argued that the re-test contradicted the rules, expressing concern that if the re-test proceeded, the NTA would use the “fait accompli” argument. Despite this, the bench remained unconvinced and scheduled the petition, along with related petitions, for July 8.
The NTA had initially granted grace marks because certain candidates were deprived of their full exam time. However, this decision became controversial, leading to multiple petitions in the Supreme Court. Subsequently, the NTA formed a committee to review the decision. The committee concluded that awarding grace marks for all attempted questions was improper and that compensation should only apply to unattempted questions. Based on the committee’s recommendations, the NTA revoked the grace marks for 1,563 candidates, offering them the choice to either accept their original marks without the grace marks or take a re-test.