No evidence of paper leak in NEET-UG test, opposition spreading lies without knowing facts: Dharmendra Pradhan

New Delhi: Amid the uproar over the NEET exams, union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday said that there were no paper leaks in the entrance tests and that the National Testing Agency is a "credible" body.

Pradhan's comments on the day the Supreme Court held that a retest should be conducted on the 1500+ students who were awarded grace marks, following which the total number of toppers fell from 67 to 61.

Students and parents were also outraged that the four-member panel formed to look into the allegations of paper leaks and mismanagement of the exam conducted by the NTA, which recommended the retests on these 1500+ students, was led by the chief of the testing agency himself.

Pradhan said that “an atmosphere” is being created that there has been a “big anomaly” with regard to NEET.

“Let me tell you that as many as 24 lakh students appear for the NEET and this issue, which is being heard by the Supreme Court, where the government has given its representation, concerns only 1,550 students. Some critical questions have been raised, and the government is working to address them. The government has taken the specific incidents seriously. Those responsible will definitely be punished,” Pradhan told reporters, alongside ministers of state Jayant Chaudhary and Sukanta Majumdar.

He also said that a committee of academicians have been formed and they have sent in their recommendations – the government had said that a four-member panel will be formed to look into the issue.

“It is due to a direction by the Supreme Court that the NTA was formed a few years ago. Today, the NDA conducts three big examinations successfully: NEET, JEE and CUET. In such a huge country, when exams will be conducted in 13 languages, and exam centres are in different countries,” he said, that the government is committed to finding justice for the students.

The issue was also keenly raised by Opposition members, with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge alleging a “nexus of exam and coaching centres”.

“There has been rigging, papers have been leaked, corruption has taken place. The future of 24 lakh students appearing in the NEET examination is at stake due to the actions of the Modi government. A nexus of Exam Centre and Coaching Centre has been formed, where the game of 'pay money, get paper' is being played,” he posted on X. “The Congress Party demands a fair investigation under the supervision of the Supreme Court into the entire NEET scam.”

In response, Pradhan reiterated in a post on X that “no concrete evidence” of “rigging, corruption or paper leak” has been found so far in the NEET exam. “All the facts related to this are before the Supreme Court and are under consideration. I want to remind the Congress that to prevent paper leak and to conduct a cheating-free exam, the Central Government has passed the Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act this year, which has many strict provisions. Playing politics on the future of students is an old habit of Congress. Instead of making political gains, Congress should contribute to the development of India,” he posted.

The NTA has come under criticism amid allegations of irregularities and inflation of marks in the medical entrance exam.

The education ministry last week set up a four-member panel to review the grace marks awarded to 1,563 students to compensate them for "loss of time" due to delay in starting the examination at certain centres.

"The panel was headed by former UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) chairman Pradeep Kumar Joshi and included the National Medical Commission (NMC) secretary, besides others. Each and every grievance has been reviewed and then only the panel made its recommendations," Pradhan told reporters earlier in the day, after taking charge as Union education minister for the second time.

"If these candidates do not wish to take the retest, then their earlier marks, sans the grace marks, will be given for the purpose of results. The grace marks that were awarded earlier were not at the whims and fancy of NTA but were based on a SC formula, there is a basis to those calculations. If there are certain anomalies, those will be rectified and we will ensure that no student is at a disadvantage," he added.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday noted that the sanctity of NEET-UG, 2024, had been affected, a charge denied by the NTA.

The top court, however, refused to stay the counselling process for admissions.

"If the candidates, out of the 1,563, do not wish to take up the retest then their earlier marks, sans the grace marks, will be given for the purposes of the results," the Centre informed the apex court on Thursday.

"The results of the retest will be declared on June 30 and counselling for admissions in MBBS, BDS and other courses will start on July 6," it said.