Who Is Alakh Pandey, Physics Wallah Founder Who Moved SC Over NEET UG 2024 Grace Marks

The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the cancellation of the scorecards given to 1,563 National Eligibility-Cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) candidates, who were awarded grace marks and offered them the option to take a re-test.

A vacation bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta was told by the counsel for the Centre and the National Testing Agency (NTA) that the students, who were given grace marks, will be given the option to take the re-test.

The results of the NEET-UG exam on June 4 had created a furore in the wake of allegations about widespread irregularities. A total of 67 students, including six from a centre in Haryana, had scored 720/720, making it unprecedented in the history of the NTA that conducts these exams for admission to MBBS, BDS, Ayush and other courses.

A slew of petitions were filed in the Supreme Court seeking cancellation and re-examination of the NEET-UG.

Among those pursuing the case is Alakh Pandey, founder of the ed-tech firm PhysicsWallah. Pandey moved the apex court against the random allocation of grace marks to candidates by the NTA, raising concerns about the integrity of the examination process.

As per the order, the decision to take the retest, slated for June 23, is voluntary. Candidates who opt not to retake the exam will have their actual marks considered for counselling. Counselling for all NEET-UG 2024 candidates will commence after the retest results on June 30.

Following the order, Pandey said, "If NTA agrees to remove the grace marks awarded on grounds of discrepancies, are there any other discrepancies done by NTA that are not out in the public eye, and if so then they should be investigated".

He also said that the "Supreme Court has offered the opportunity of retesting to only those students who sought out the court but what about those who did not reach the court."

Pandey's plea urges the court to establish an expert panel to investigate the NEET-UG 2024 examination process and results. Lawyer J Sai Deepak, representing Pandey, revealed that signatures from around 20,000 students have been collected, indicating widespread discontent regarding the allocation of grace marks.

Taking note of the submissions, the bench said all the pleas, including the one filed by Alakh Pandey over the issue of award of grace marks, will be taken up for hearing on July 8. They also include the petitions seeking cancellation of NEET-UG, 2024 on account of allegations of question paper leaks and other malpractices.

Born and raised in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, Alakh Pandey is a prominent figure in the field of competitive examination preparation in India. His company, PhysicsWallah Private Ltd, mainly offers to prepare students for competitive exams like JEE, NEET.

Founded in 2016, PhysicsWallah initially started as a YouTube channel dedicated to teaching physics concepts relevant to JEE aspirants. Pandey's teaching style quickly gained popularity. In 2022, Amazon released a web series titled 'Physics Wallah', based on Pandey’s life and journey.

The NEET-UG 2024 results, declared on June 4, sparked nationwide controversy due to allegations of irregularities and sparked demands for a re-examination. Over 24 lakh candidates appeared for the examination across various centres. The revelation that 67 students secured the top rank, including six from the same examination centre in Haryana, further fuelled suspicions of mark inflation.

The NTA defended its actions, attributing the high scores to changes in NCERT textbooks and the allocation of grace marks to compensate for lost examination time. However, students argued that the allocation of grace marks was arbitrary and lacked transparency.