The National Testing Agency has allegedly defied an order of the Central Information Commission directing it to disclose the procedure followed to award grace marks to over 1,500 NEET candidates in 2024, raising fresh concerns about the transparency of its functioning.
The testing agency, whose efficiency has come under scrutiny after the cancellation of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) 2026, was never “transparent” in conducting the entrances, Mumbai-based RTI activist Pranav Jeevan told The Telegraph on Thursday.
In 2024, the NTA awarded grace marks to 1,563 candidates to compensate for time lost in the examination hall. It was based on the recommendation of a committee. After it was challenged in the Supreme Court, the grace marks were scrapped based on
another committee. The candidates were given the option for a retest.
The activist wanted to know the details of the process followed in awarding grace marks and in scrapping them. The NTA pleaded that such details are confidential in nature and cannot be shared with Pranav Jeevan. He filed an appeal, which was rejected.
The activist moved the apex information watchdog, which heard both parties and gave a reasoned order on July 31, 2025, directing the NTA to share the details with the applicant within 15 days. The NTA had to share the information by August 15, 2025. It has not shared them, even as nearly nine months have passed since the order was issued.
“Now, the NTA is being questioned over the question paper leak in the NEET exam this year. But the NTA always operates in a completely opaque manner. It does not share details of the decision-making process on examination. It does not care about the CIC’s directives,” Jeevan said.
He said he wanted to know how the NTA could take contrary decisions on grace marks. The information was sought for public interest, he said.
He also questioned the NTA for not making public the reports on the national entrance tests such as NEET, JEE-Main, CUET and NET. The IITs conduct the JEE-Advanced test every year. They publish on their website the JEE-Advanced report every year, giving details of the question pattern, cut-off, merit list, and students’ overall details. The JEE-Advanced report gives question-wise data on the percentage of students who attempted or did not attempt — a data that would suggest if any question was too difficult for the students.
Two more arrested
The CBI on Thursday arrested two more accused in connection with the alleged irregularities in NEET-UG 2026, taking the total arrests in the case to seven.
An agency spokesperson said the latest arrests include Dhananjay Lokhanda from Ahilyanagar (Rahuri, Maharashtra) and Manisha Waghmare from Pune.
Sources said Waghmare is a beautician, while Dhananjay has ties with ayurveda practitioners who assist students with admissions.