New Delhi: Days after he denied allegations of a paper leak of the controversial NEET-UG exam which students take to enter medical courses, Union education minister Dharmendra said a day ago that “some irregularities in NEET have come to light from some specific locations”.
Indian Express had reported that peaking to reporters on June 15, Pradhan said that apart from issues faced in just six centres out of roughly 4,500, NEET was conducted satisfactorily across the country. He promised action against anyone found culpable but denied allegations of a paper leak for the May exam.
On Sunday, June 16, Pradhan spoke of and was quoted by Times of India has having acknowledged irregularities.
“Some irregularities have come to light in two places. I assure students and parents that the government has taken this seriously. Even if big officials of NTA are found guilty, they will not be spared. A lot of improvement is required in NTA. The government is concerned about this, no culprit will be spared, they will get the harshest punishment,” Pradhan said.
“Everything is being done under supervision of the [Supreme] court,” he added.
The Supreme Court is hearing a host of petitions, including on the NEET-UG paper leak.
The TOI report said that government officials have maintained that the wrongdoing was concentrated in Patna and that not a significant number of students have succeeded from those centres.
Police in Bihar served notices on June 15 to nine aspirants, including those living outside the state, asking them to join its investigation into allegations that the exam’s paper was leaked. Four other aspirants from Bihar have already been arrested.
Two of the accused on Sunday confessed to their role in the question paper leak, an agency reported.
The results of the exam, conducted by the National Testing Agency, were declared on June 4. A host of issues were immediately flagged by candidates, including inflation of marks, award of arbitrary grace marks, and so on.
