New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday said that cancellation of National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for Undergraduates (NEET-UG) 2024 is an option of last resort and should be considered only under extreme circumstances.
“If the breach in the sanctity of an examination has affected the entirety of the process, and it’s not possible to segregate beneficiaries from others then re-test has to be ordered. However, if it is confined to specific areas or centres, it may not be appropriate to order a retest, especially since 24 lakh students are involved,” CJI Chandrachud said while hearing a batch of 38 petitions, challenging the May 5 exam and calling for a fresh test amid allegations of mass question paper leaks and cheating.
The three-judge bench directed the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts the exam, to fully disclose three aspects – the nature of the leak, the locations where the leak occurred, and the time lag between the leak and the exam. The NTA has been instructed to provide clarity on – modalities followed to identify beneficiaries of the leak, identify the centres/cities where leak took place, and how the leak was disseminated.
“It is clear that leak of NEET UG question paper has taken place. We want to know number of beneficiaries of question paper leak, what action has been taken against them.”
The court mentioned about the radical increase in students getting maximum of 720 marks in 2024 against one student in 2020, 3 in 2021 and 1 in 2022, and 2 students in 2023.
The CJI also asked the Centre and NTA whether it would be feasible to use data analytics in cyber forensics unit or anyone employed by government to identify suspect cases, so that modality can be formed to segregate tainted from the untainted students; then, the modalities to be followed between conclusion of the exam including retest and the counselling process.
“If an exercise needs to be done to deduce more beneficiaries of the leak, a policy decision needs to be taken on the status of the counselling… If a committee has already been setup, full details should be made available to the court. The court may then consider whether committee should be allowed to proceed or composition should be modified.”
The Chief Justice instructed the CBI Investigator to provide evidence on the timing and methods of the alleged paper leak before the court. He also advised the Centre to consider appointing a multi disciplinary committee to ensure measures are taken to obviate such instances in future.
The Solicitor General asked for time till Wednesday to share all details asked by the SC, while the counsel representing the petitioners requested the CBI to file a status report regarding FIRs before the court. “We will give you a day’s time. We want all petitioners’ lawyers, asking for a re-test, to give us one set of submissions on Wednesday. We want you all to sit down and give us one consolidated set of submissions not exceeding 10 pages. Affidavit by NTA, Union and the one by the CBI shall be placed on record at 5 pm on Wednesday and submitted to the counsel of the petitioners as well,” the CJI said, while posting the matter for July 11.
The NTA conducted NEET-UG on May 5 and the results were declared on June 4.
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