Over four lakh candidates who had appeared for the undergraduate National Eligibility-Cum-Entrance Test will lose five marks each from their total scores as the Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that there was only one correct answer to a disputed question in the physics section of the examination, reported Live Law.

The top court has directed the National Testing Agency, the body that conducts the examination, to revise the results by treating as correct the option identified by an expert team of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

The order will impact 44 out of 61 students who got a perfect score of 720 marks.

The examination, conducted for admissions to undergraduate medical courses, was held on May 5 and the results were declared on June 4.

The National Testing Agency had earlier treated two options as the correct answers to one multiple-choice question in the physics section.

During the hearing on Tuesday, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre and the National Testing Agency, said that the decision was taken after the agency received representations from several students who used old textbooks to prepare for the examination.

The bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, however, noted that the IIT Delhi expert committee had indicated that one of the two options was correct.

“Option 2 and 4 are mutually exclusive and both cannot stand together,” said the bench. “We accept the report of the IIT Delhi.”

In the hearing on Monday, some of the petitioners argued that option two was correct according to the old National Council of Educational Research and Training syllabus.

However, the new syllabus of the National Council of Educational Research and Training indicated option four as correct.

One of the petitioners said that the National Testing Agency’s decision to award marks to students who selected option two is contrary to its own instruction that the latest National Council of Educational Research and Training version has to be followed.

No re-examination

On Tuesday, the top court also refused to order a re-test of the entrance exam, saying that there was not enough evidence to show a widespread leak of the question paper.

“At the present stage, there is absence of material on record to lead to a conclusion that result of the exam is vitiated or that there is a systemic breach of the sanctity of the exam,” the bench said.

Ordering a re-examination would also lead to serious consequences for over 23 lakh students, the court noted, adding that it would lead to a disruption of the academic schedule and have “cascading effects” on the course of medical education, Live Law reported.

After the results of this year’s examination were announced on June 4, allegations of question paper leaks and other irregularities came to light. The Central Bureau of Investigation has arrested 21 accused persons in the paper leak case from Bihar and Jharkhand so far.

Revised results within two days

Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan said on Tuesday that the revised results of the entrance exam would be declared within two days, reported PTI.

Pradhan hailed the Supreme Court’s verdict and said: “‘Satyamev Jayate’. Truth has prevailed”.

The government had opposed the re-examination, claiming that there was no large scale paper leak and irregularities in the exam.

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