The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the National Testing Agency (NTA) to release the centre- and city-wise results of NEET-UG 2024 while hiding the identities of candidates by 12 p.m. on July 20.
During the hearing, a bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud made it evident that any decision to hold new NEET-UG examinations would need to be made on “concrete footing,” indicating that the integrity of the previous exams was severely compromised.
“Re-examination has to be on concrete footing that the sanctity of the entire test was affected,” the CJI said.
The arguments on a number of pleas seeking a retest, cancellation, and a court-monitored investigation into the claims of widespread malpractices in the prestigious exam held on May 5 will be taken up by the apex court on July 22.
The bench asked the counsel for the candidates to establish their claim about widespread irregularities in holding the examination, including the leak of the question paper, warranting cancellation and a re-test.
The court said it prima facie appeared that the question paper leak was confined to Patna and Hazaribagh, and nothing of this sort can be said to have occurred in Godhra, Gujarat.
Question papers were reportedly leaked in Patna and Hazaribagh, and there were reports in Godhra that a person was engaged in the exam and receiving money to fill up the OMR sheets of certain applicants.
Questioning the claims about the leak of the question paper on the social media platform ‘Telegram’, the bench said, “You have to bear in mind that the idea of somebody doing this was not to make a national charade. People did it for money. So, it was not to bring disrepute to the exam and somebody was doing it to make money, which is evident. Mass leakage also requires contacts also at that level so that you connect to all such key contacts in different cities.”
The bench, which also included Justices JB Pardiwla and Manoj Misra, said that the controversial medical entrance exam has “social ramifications” as it began the important hearing on a number of petitions pertaining to it.
The top court adjourned the cases listed ahead of the NEET-UG pleas, saying, “We will open the case today. Lakhs of young students are waiting for this, let us hear and decide.”
The bench asked the petitioners to show that the entire examination was impacted by the “systemic” paper leak, which made it necessary to cancel.
On the issue of the ongoing investigation, the bench said, “The CBI probe is on. If what the CBI has told us is revealed, it will affect the investigation and people will become wise.”
The bench heard more than 40 pleas, including those filed by the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts NEET-UG, seeking the transfer of cases pending against it in different high courts regarding the alleged mistakes in the exam to the apex court to avoid a multitude of litigations.
On May 5, nearly 23.33 lakh students took the exam at 4,750 centres across 571 cities, including 14 overseas.
Retests, on the other hand, have been vehemently opposed by the NTA and the central government, who maintain that they would be “counterproductive” and “seriously jeopardise” lakhs of honest candidates.
Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan are among the states where the Central Bureau of Investigation has made a few arrests in connection with the question paper leak investigation. The NEET-UG papers are said to have been obtained and distributed by the individuals who were taken into custody.
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