Candidates who appeared for National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) in Tamil Nadu this year can heave a sigh of relief as the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court has ordered the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to award 196 grace marks to the students. The order was given after errors were found in the question paper.

The court has given the education board two-weeks times to revise the rank list, while directing CBSE to suspend medical counselling till then.

The rank list for medical counselling in Tamil Nadu was released by the Tamil Nadu department of health and family welfare on June 28. The first round of counselling for admissions to Tamil Nadu medical colleges began on July 1 an ended on July 7.

The order was issued based on a petition filed by CPI (M) Rajya Sabha MP T K Rangarajan, who said that one-third of the question paper (49 questions) was translated wrongly in Tamil and had approached the court regarding the issue. He had demanded that the court to direct admissions either based solely on the Class XII marks of the students or award 196 grace marks to students who had attempted the exam in Tamil Nadu.

A bench of Justices C T Selvam and A M Basheer Ahamed had on July 6 pulled up the CBSE for releasing the results despite knowing about the PIL, observing "Why did they do so?"

NEET was conducted across India on May 6. Around 24,000 students took the exam in Tamil Nadu and are set to benefit with the move. It would also have ramifications for students across the country as the rankings could be drastically altered.

Meanwhile, politics over the issue has continues in the state with most parties demanding that NEET exam be scrapped.

Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar said, "We want NEET exempted from Tamil Nadu. We are continuously fighting for that." DMK, on the other, said that it will continue to oppose NEET and lashed out at the state government's inability to fight the case.

DMK spokesperson A Saravanan said, "We oppose NEET because CBSE is not competent enough to conduct NEET in a secure manner and students had to suffer due to their incompetency. The high court's verdict is a welcome respite for the affected candidates, but the AIADMK government has completely failed in this regard. Students from the rural areas have to suffer the most."

Tamil Nadu BJP unit, however, maintains that NEET should not be scrapped and blames the DMK for making NEET a political issue. BJP spokesperson Narayanan Tirupati said, “As far as the high court order is concerned, CBSE will do the needful and the department concerned will take care of it. But DMK has got no right to say that NEET should not be held. In Tamil Nadu public service commission and even in state board exams and in many government owned-universities, we had come across these problems which have been corrected. DMK is trying to sabotage the education system."