On Tuesday, the Supreme Court directed the National Testing Agency (NTA) to revise its merit list by recognizing the answer suggested by a panel of three experts from IIT Delhi as the correct one for a contentious physics question
Previously, the NTA had acknowledged two options as correct answers for the physics question and had awarded four marks to students who chose these options.
Following this decision, only students who selected the answer given by IIT Delhi will receive four marks for the question. As a result, over four lakh NEET-UG aspirants who chose the other option based on the old NCERT textbook will lose five marks, potentially altering their ranks significantly. A bench led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud dismissed petitions calling for the exam’s cancellation and a re-test, asserting that there was no evidence to suggest a “systemic breach” of the exam’s integrity.
Regarding the controversial physics question, the bench accepted the IIT Delhi experts’ report, which concluded that there was only one correct answer, not two, as claimed by some lawyers. “Based on the experts’ findings, we have no doubt about the correct option… we accept the IIT Delhi report and direct the NTA to re-tally the NEET UG result, considering option 4 as the sole correct answer,” the bench stated.
In its report, IIT Delhi indicated that only one option — “atoms are electrically neutral as they contain an equal number of positive and negative charges” — is correct. Lawyer Tanvi Dubey, representing one of the top rankers, argued that her client, who scored a perfect 720 out of 720, would see a significant drop in rank if only one answer is accepted as correct. However, the bench rejected this plea.
Earlier, a panel of IIT Delhi experts informed the bench that there was only one correct answer. The CJI referred to the report, saying, “We have received the IIT Delhi report. IIT Director Rangan Banerjee constituted a committee from the Department of Physics, which concluded that option four is the correct answer.” The CJI emphasized that option four, stating “Statement I is correct but Statement II is incorrect,” is indeed the correct answer.
“The committee has clearly stated that option four is the only correct choice. Therefore, the National Testing Agency (NTA) was right in its answer key with option four,” the bench affirmed.
The Controversial Physics Question
On Monday, the bench encountered a complex situation concerning a physics question during extensive arguments. This led the court to request the IIT-D director to form a team of three subject experts. PTI also sought the opinion of Delhi University Associate Professor and IIT Madras alumnus Naveen Gaur on the disputed question.
The question presented two statements:
Statement I: Atoms are electrically neutral as they contain an equal number of positive and negative charges.
Statement II: Atoms of each element are stable and emit their characteristic spectrum.
Given these statements, the options were:
- Statement I is incorrect, but Statement II is correct.
- Both Statement I and Statement II are correct.
- Both Statement I and Statement II are incorrect.
- Statement I is correct, but Statement II is incorrect.
Professor Gaur, who teaches at Dayal Singh College, confirmed that option four is the only correct answer.
Over 23.33 lakh students took the test on May 5 across 4,750 centers in 571 cities, including 14 overseas locations. The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) is conducted by the NTA for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH, and other related courses in government and private institutions nationwide.
(With inputs from agency)
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