New Delhi, 14 June

In a significant development amid a raging row over the NEET-UG, the Supreme Court on Friday sought responses from the Centre and the NTA on a plea seeking a CBI probe into allegations of question paper leak and other irregularities in the exam.

A vacation bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, which was hearing a PIL filed by Hiten Singh Kashyap, also sought responses from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Bihar government within two weeks.

It said the PIL will also be taken up with other pending ones on 8 July, when the top court will start functioning after the summer vacation.

The Centre and the National Testing Agency (NTA) had on Thursday told the Supreme Court they had cancelled the grace marks given to 1,563 candidates who took the examination for admission to MBBS and other such courses.

They will have the option to either take a re-test or forgo the compensatory marks awarded to them for the loss of time, the Centre had said.

The examination was held on 5 May across 4,750 centres and around 24 lakh candidates appeared for it. The results were expected to be declared on 14 June but were announced on 4 June, apparently because the evaluation of the answer sheets was completed earlier. There have been allegations of question paper leaks in states like Bihar and other irregularities in the prestigious exam.

The allegations have led to protests in several cities and filing of cases in seven high courts as also the Supreme Court. The NEET-UG examination is conducted by the NTA for admission to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country.

NEET: Grace marks given to 1,563 candidates withdrawn, Centre to SC