A panel of experts from Indian Institute of Delhi (IIT-D) told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that there is only one correct answer and not two to a controversial physics question asked in the NEET-UG 2024 examination.
The top court bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala had asked the IIT-Delhi director to set up a team of experts for looking into the particular question and submit a report by today afternoon.
“We have received the IIT Delhi report. The IIT Director Rangan Banerjee...constituted a committee from the department of physics and they say a team of three experts examined the question. They say that the option four is the correct answer,” the CJI was quoted by the PTI as saying.
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What was the question?
The question read- Given below are two statements: Statement I: Atoms are electrically neutral as they contain equal number of positive and negative charges. Statement II: Atoms of each element are stable and emit their characteristic spectrum.
"In the light of the above statements, choose the most appropriate answer from the options given below:
(1) Statement I is incorrect but Statement II is correct.
{{/usCountry}}(1) Statement I is incorrect but Statement II is correct.
{{/usCountry}}(2) Both Statement I and Statement II are correct.
(3) Both Statement I and Statement II are incorrect.
(4) Statement I is correct but Statement II is incorrect.
"The committee has opined clearly that there was only one option which is option four (4). So the National Testing Agency (NTA) was correct in its answer key which was option four (4)," the apex court bench said.
The Supreme Court is hearing on submission by candidates who argued that the question had two correct answers and a set of examinees who gave one particular answer of the two correct ones were awarded four marks.
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According to the lawyers, one set of aspirants got minus five for the correct answer, the second lot got four marks for another correct answer and the third group comprised those who skipped it for either want of knowledge or due to the fear of getting negative marks.
This would have a significant impact on the merit list of successful candidates, a bench was told.