New Delhi: Over 400,000 students who took the NEET-UG exam will lose four marks following a Supreme Court decision that only one correct answer from a set of four will be considered valid. This ruling came after a student highlighted that “Question No. 29” in the Physics section had two correct answers, though it should have had only one.

The students affected by this ruling include 44 who had achieved a perfect score of 720/720.

The Supreme Court’s order was based on a report by a team of three experts from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Delhi, which resolved the issue concerning “atoms” and their characteristics.

The petitioner pointed out the anomaly of two correct answers to the Supreme Court during a hearing on Monday, noting that many who selected one of the two correct answers received four marks. This inconsistency, the petitioner argued before a bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, could significantly impact the final merit list of successful candidates.

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The Supreme Court ordered the IIT Delhi director to form a three-member team and provide a recommendation by 12 pm on Tuesday. The court ruled that for one Physics question on atomic theory, marks should be awarded for only one answer, which is option No. 4.

The court also dismissed multiple petitions seeking the cancellation and retesting of the NEET UG 2024 exam, with Chief Justice Chandrachud stating there was no evidence of a systemic leak of the question paper or other malpractices. A bench comprising Chief Justice Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra heard submissions from numerous lawyers, including Solicitor General Tushar Mehta for the Centre and the National Testing Agency (NTA), as well as senior lawyers Narender Hooda, Sanjay Hegde, and Mathews Nedumapra over nearly four days.

The Supreme Court concluded that there was no material to suggest that the NEET UG 2024 exam results were compromised or that there was a systemic breach, although it acknowledged that question paper leaks did occur in Hazaribagh and Patna.

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