The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to cancel the NEET UG 2024 exam, saying that there is no material to show that the sanctity of the entire examination has been affected.
The top court said it realised that ordering fresh entrance exam for the current year would have serious consequences for the students who appeared for the test.
As the hearing of the pleas in connection with the alleged irregularities in the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test - Undergraduate (NEET UG) 2024 in the Supreme Court ended with the bench's verdict, let's look at the timeline of the controversy that engulfed the entrance test.
NEET UG 2024 CONTROVERSY | TIMELINE
May 5, 2024: The National Testing Agency (NTA) conducted the NEET-UG 2024 examination at 4,750 centres across 571 cities, including 14 abroad. Over 24 lakh medical aspirants appeared for the entrance test.
May 6, 2024: Shortly after the exam was conducted, many social media posts claimed that the question paper had been leaked. However, NTA denied such allegations and said that 'mishap' took place in one Rajasthan's centre, for which a re-exam was conducted for around 120 candidates.
May 19, 2024: The Supreme Court of India refused to delay the declaration of the NEET UG 2024 results over paper leak allegations, however it agreed to issue a notice on the re-examination of NEET UG in centres where malpractices and paper leaks alleged.
May 30, 2024: NTA released the provisional answer key for NEET-UG 2024. The agency also displayed candidates' recorded responses as well. An objection was also opened for students till May 31 for submitting objections.
June 4, 2024: NTA declared the NEET UG 2024 results on the same day as the results for the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections. The perfect score is 720 in the exams, while the cutoff for General/EWS candidates is 720-164.
June 5, 2024: Controversy erupted over the NEET results as six of the 67 students who secured a perfect score were of the same centre in Haryana. Allegations were also levelled against the grace marks awarded by the NTA to some students, to which the agency said that it was done to compensate "loss of examination time".
June 6, 2024: Opposition parties and parents alleged paper leak concerns and questioned the method NTA used for awarding grace marks for students. Congress had slammed the Centre, saying that it claims to stop wars abroad but can't stop paper leaks in the nation.
June 8, 2024: Amid growing concerns, the Education Ministry set up a 4-member panel to re-examine results of over 1,500 students who were awarded grace marks in the NEET-UG 2024 exams. Student protests also broke out across the nation, with students questioning why loss of time was not compensated with time and with grace marks instead. Protesting aspirants said that it was unfair for those who worked really hard, noting that with around 150 marks extra, several reached the cut-off of the test even though they originally did not score as much.
June 11, 2024: The SC, hearing petitions to recall the NEET UG results and conduct re-examination, sought response from NTA on the fresh pleas. It had also refused to the stay the counselling process for admissions in MBBS and other courses for successful candidates.
June 13, 2024: The Supreme Court refused to stay the counselling for NEET UG 2024 and said that the process will conducted by the MCC as per schedule. Meanwhile, NTA cancelled the grace marks awarded to 1,563 students, giving them an option to appear for the re-test on June 23.
June 14, 2024: Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan rejected allegations of paper leak in the NEET-UG 2024 examination, saying that there is no evidence of it. He asserted that the Centre will not tolerate any malpractice or irregularities in the conduct of exams and accountability of the NTA will be fixed if lapses are found.
June 16, 2024: Heated notions towards the central government increased as Opposition leaders sparked a massive row over the NEET UG exam. From Delhi's AAP government to Tamil Nadu's DMK government, the hit-outs at the BJP-led NDA kept surging.
June 18, 2024: The top court issued a notice to the Centre and NTA, seeking a response to the pleas connected to the alleged paper leaks and malpractices in NEET UG 2024 exam. The court had said that, "If there is 0.001% negligence on the part of anyone it should be thoroughly dealt with."
June 20, 2024: Amid row over NEET, NTA cancelled the UGC-NET examination. The Education Ministry said that the decision was taken to ensure the highest level of transparency and sanctity of the exam process.
June 22, 2024: The Education Ministry handed over the probe into the alleged irregularities in the NEET UG 2024 examination to the CBI, seeking a thorough investigation. The Centre also removed NTA Director General Subodh Singh. Meanwhile, the Union Health Ministry also postponed the NEET PG exams amid the paper leak controversy.
June 23, 2024: Re-test was conducted for the 1,563 students who were awarded grace marks in the May 5 NEET UG 2024 exam. A 7-member committee headed by former ISRO Chief K Radhakrishnan was given the task to supervise the operational practices of the NTA and proposing exam reforms.
June 25, 2024: Bihar Police found that notorious Sanjeev Mukhiya gang was in touch with a nexus of cybercriminals to get the NEET UG exam papers leaked.
June 27, 2024: The CBI made their first two arrests from Bihar in connection with the alleged irregularities in the NEET UG exam. By this time, the Bihar police had arrested 18 persons in the same case.
June 28, 2024: Another two arrests were made by the CBI, where the principal and vice principal of Oasis school in Jharkhand's Hazaribagh were nabbed by the central probe agency. The principal was the city coordinate for the test, while the vice principal was the designated NTA observer and central coordinator at the school.
June 28, 2024: Meanwhile, on the same day, the Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition, Rahul Gandhi's mic was allegedly turned off in the House when he raked up the NEET paper leak issue.
July 1, 2024: Bihar Police launched a massive manhunt for father-son duo from UP's Prayagraj after the probe found them to be resorting to alleged unfair means in the NEET UG exam. Meanwhile, NTA declared the NEET UG re-test results for the 1,563 affected candidates, who had taken the exam once again on June 23.
July 3, 2024: CBI arrested "kingpin" Aman Singh from Hazaribagh for his alleged involvement in the NEET paper leak case.
July 8, 2024: The SC heard over 30 pleas related to alleged discrepancies in the NEET UG exam and said if the sanctity of the test is lost, then re-test has to be ordered, adding that the cancellation of the exam was "last resort".
July 11, 2024: Though the SC was scheduled to resume the hearing of pleas on July 11, it posted the matter for July 18. Meanwhile, in an affidavit, the Centre told the top court there was neither any indication of "mass malpractice" nor a localised set of candidates being benefitted leading to abnormal scores in NEET UG 2024.
July 12, 2024: Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court granted bail to a person named Gangadhar Gunde who was wrongly arrested by the CBI in the NEET paper leak case. The agency had aimed to arrest another person with a similar name.
July 18, 2024: The Supreme Court said that if re-test of the NEET UG 2024 is to be done, that it needs to be on a concrete footing that the sanctity of the entire examination was affected. It directed the NTA to publish the centre and city-wise results of the entrance test on its website under dummy identities.
July 20, 2024: NTA released centre-wise and city-wise results of the NEET UG 2024 exam. The data analysis of the same showed that where irregularities were reported, no high scores were there, but some centres had top-performing students. On the same day, CBI also arrested one of the "masterminds" and two MBBS students for their alleged involvement in the controversy.
July 22, 2024: Resuming the NEET UG hearing, the Supreme Court questioned the findings of the re-release of the NEET UG exams. CJI DY Chandrachud observed that that accused' statements indicate that students were gathered to memorise answers on May 4 evening, adding that it means the leak happened before May 4.
July 23, 2024: The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to cancel the NEET-UG 2024 exam and said there is no material to show that the sanctity of the entire examination has been affected. The Supreme Court said it realises that directing a fresh NEET-UG for the present year would be replete with serious consequences which will be for over 24 lakh students who appeared in this exam.
