Officials from the Ministry of Education and the National Testing Agency (NTA) informed the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports on Wednesday that efforts are underway to expedite the declaration of NEET-UG results in order to avoid delays in counselling and admissions.
The committee also suggested that the NTA be transformed into a statutory body through an Act of Parliament so that it operates under a clearly defined accountability framework towards the candidates it examines. The NTA was established in 2017 as a registered society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
In a presentation to the committee, the NTA said it is institutionalising parallelised result processing. “We are institutionalising parallelised result processing by running the answer key challenge process concurrently with OMR scanning as a repeatable mechanism to declare results faster and protect the admission and counselling schedule. At present, result declaration takes around 45 days, and the answer key challenge process usually begins only after OMR scanning is completed, adding another four to five days. Any delay in result declaration would consequently delay medical college admissions and counselling,” the agency told the panel.
The answer key challenge mechanism allows candidates to contest the NTA’s provisional answer key. Candidates who believe an official answer is incorrect can submit objections online, supported by standard textbook references. If a panel of experts upholds the challenge, the answer key is revised and the challenge fee is refunded.
The NEET-UG re-examination was held on June 21 following the cancellation of the original May 3 test over an alleged paper leak. The CBI is continuing its probe into the matter. During the meeting, the NTA briefed the committee on the logistical support it received from the Department of Posts and the Indian Air Force (IAF) in conducting the re-test.
Former ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan, who heads the high-powered committee overseeing reforms in the NTA, also briefed the panel. Committee chairman Mukul Wasnik said, “The meeting was very good and informative. The inputs we received during the course of our deliberations will help the committee reach a conclusion.”
