The Supreme Court of India on Friday refused to stay the counselling process for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) 2024, while issuing a notice to the National Testing Agency (NTA), the body responsible for conducting the examination.

A vacation bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and SVN Bhatti has consolidated the new pleas with pending petitions, scheduling them for hearing on July 8.

This decision comes amid ongoing controversies surrounding the NEET-UG 2024 exam, including allegations of question paper leaks and other irregularities. The court has maintained its stance against halting the counselling process, emphasizing the need to balance addressing concerns while keeping the admission process on track.

In a related development, the Supreme Court has also issued a notice to the Centre and NTA regarding a petition filed by students from the Meghalaya centre. These students claim to have lost 45 minutes during the exam and are seeking to be included among the 1,563 students who were awarded grace marks and given the option to retake the exam.

The NEET-UG 2024 exam, conducted on May 5, saw its results declared on June 4, earlier than the scheduled June 14 announcement. The results sparked protests due to 67 students achieving perfect scores of 720, raising suspicions of irregularities in the examination process.

Responding to these concerns, the NTA informed the Supreme Court on June 13 that scorecards of 1,563 candidates who received “grace marks” would be cancelled. These candidates have been given the option to retake the exam on June 23 or forfeit the compensatory marks.

On Tuesday, the apex court emphasized that any negligence, even as small as 0.001 per cent, in the conduct of the NEET-UG 2024 examination would be addressed thoroughly.

(Inputs from ANI)