The Supreme Court has taken cognisance and has affirmed the finding of IIT Delhi over the disputed physics question, stating that there can only be one correct answer.
In lieu of these observations the Supreme Court has asked the National Testing agency to revise the marks on the basis of only one correct answer.
CJI said, "In view of the expert determination by team constituted by IIT Delhi, we have no manner of doubt with regard to the correct option. Options 2 and 4 are mutually exclusive and cannot stand together. We accept IIT Delhi report and accordingly NTA shall re-tally the NEET UG result on the basis that option 4 represents the only correct answer to the question. We have not indicated the number of the question since number of question may vary as per procedure followed in the exam to preserve the integrity of the process."
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi officially determined that the correct response to the contentious question is option four, 'Statement 1 is correct but statement 2 is incorrect.'
This decision will affect the marks 4,00,000 students could potentially lose four marks due to the incorrect information originally presented in the exam. 44 students who scored the perfect 720/720 and hence the All India Rank 1 can possibly lose their ranks and other 5 marks.
During a recent court hearing, Chief Justice of India (CJI) raised inquiries about the timeline of the inaccuracies in the textbook used for the exam. The Solicitor General (SG) confirmed that the incorrect answer persisted until 2021.
CJI emphasised the importance of focusing on the correct answer rather than outdated textbook editions, highlighting a scenario where even a student who may have provided the correct answer through proper preparation shouldn't be penalised for relying on a flawed source.
CJI noted, "There’s one correct answer… There may be situations where a question is ambiguous and both options are correct; however, in this case, the answers clearly exclude one another."
In response to the urgency of the matter, the CJI also remarked, “Though we gave the IIT Delhi director time until noon, we had the answer on the table before 10 am. It would have taken probably 10 seconds to answer the question.”
The contentious question posed to students was as follows:
Given below are two statements: Statement I: Atoms are electrically neutral as they contain equal numbers of positive and negative charges. Statement II: Atoms of each element are stable and emit their characteristic spectrum.
In 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. 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.
Many students had also answered option 2 as the correct answer, as it was stated as correct in the previous editions of the NCERT.
With IIT Delhi confirming option four as the accurate answer, students affected by this error will now face the ramifications in their overall scores, raising concerns about the fairness and accuracy of the evaluation process in national exams.