Retest for NEET UG 2024 in Question: Bench to Rule Based on NTA’s Report
NEET UG 2024 Paper Leak: On July 8, 2024, Chief Justice D.Y. Division bench of. Chandrachud, economist J.B. Pardiwala, and Roberta Manoj Mishra made several admissions sanctioning the alleged mismanagement of the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) 2024 for graduate medical admissions. Over 20 petitioners sought various types of relief, ranging from complete cancellation of the exam to individual re-examination in specific cases. Additionally, a group of successful candidates from Gujarat filed a petition against conducting the re-examination.
Retest for NEET UG 2024 in Question
NEET UG 2024 Paper Leak: The hearing was marred by chaos, with more than a dozen lawyers representing aggrieved candidates from different parts of the country standing by the lawyer’s side. Earlier, on June 20, Justices Vikram Nath and S.V., The vacation bench of the Supreme Court had heard the matter. Bhatti had stayed in all ongoing proceedings related to the NEET complaints and transferred all the cases to the Supreme Court. This consolidated case included twenty-three tagged cases. To bring clarity, CJI Chandrachud outlined a structured four-stage hearing process. First, the petitioners seeking quashing due to the alleged paper leak will be heard, as this represents the widest level of relief sought. This group included candidates from Meghalaya, who had claimed that they were given late question papers and answer sets without any compensation time, unlike the 1,563 candidates who had retaken the exam following the Supreme Court order on June 23, 2024. After this, the petitioners arguing against the re-examination will be heard. , followed by the Union of India and the National Testing Agency (NTA), which are the bodies responsible for conducting the NEET examination.
Benchmark to Rule Based on NTA’s Report
CJI Chandrachud, while accepting the undisputed fact of the paper leak, stressed the need to identify “red flags” in the examination process. He stressed the importance of not being in denial about the leaks and said it was important to address these abnormalities. Some of the red flags included the unprecedented number of students securing first rank in the exam. The Court also sought to identify cases where students changed examination centers and scored higher marks, as well as examples of significant disparity between subject marks.
NEET UG 2024 Paper Leak Confirmed
NEET UG 2024 Paper Leak: Despite the admission of leaks, the Court was cautious about ordering a re-examination, recognizing the interest of approximately 23 lakh students who appeared for the NEET UG 2024 exam. CJI Chandrachud commented on the prestige of the examination and the aspirations of middle-class parents to pursue medical or engineering careers for their children. He said that to decide conclusively on re-testing, it was necessary to determine the nature and extent of the leak. If the leak had happened on the morning of the exam, it might have been limited to a few groups and not widely circulated. However, if this had happened earlier and spread through electronic media like WhatsApp or Telegram, it could have compromised the integrity of the entire examination.
To assess the extent of the leak, CJI Chandrachud asked several detailed questions regarding the preparation, printing, and distribution processes of the test. This included inquiries about when the question papers were prepared, and sent to NTA, the the location of the printing press, transportation arrangements, and the number of question paper sets printed.
NEET UG 2024 Paper Leak: The petitioners highlighted the concerned observations that between 2020 and 2023, only seven students had secured 100% marks (720 out of 720). However, in NEET 2024, a surprising 67 students scored full marks, six of whom were from the same center. He also cited a First Information Report (FIR) from Patna, Bihar, where six persons were arrested for the alleged paper leak. The petitioners cited a situation report by the Economic Offenses Wing of Bihar Police, which claimed that the leaked question papers were circulated on Telegram on the morning of the exam, allowing “groups of students” to memorize the answers.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the union, objected to these claims. He said that of the six FIRs registered related to the NEET UG controversy, only the Bihar FIR alleged a paper leak, while the others were for local malpractices. Mehta also argued that the situation report cited by the petitioners was not an official report of the Bihar Police, read out a clarification that no official press release was issued, and termed the report as an irresponsible act of correspondence.
NEET UG 2024 Paper Leak: Senior advocate Mathews Nedumpura, representing some of the petitioners, reacted strongly to Mehta’s arguments and repeatedly said, “This is a cover-up!” During the hearing.