Hearing a batch of petitions filed in connection with the alleged irregularities in the NEET UG 2024, the Supreme Court on Thursday said that the re-test needs to be on a concrete footing that the sanctity of the entire exam was affected.
The Supreme Court directed NTA to publish on its website the centre-wise and city-wise results of NEET-UG 2024 by July 20 noon, saying that the identity of students is to be masked.
A bench comprising of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra were hearing the pleas related to the controversy-ridden medical entrance test, saying that they have given priority to NEET because of the "social ramifications".
The court adjourned the cases listed ahead of the NEET-related pleas and said, "We will open the case today. Lakhs of young students are waiting for this, let us hear and decide."
Notably, the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility - Undergraduate (NEET UG) 2024 was conducted by the National Testing Agency on May 5. The results for the exam, which was taken by around 24 lakh students, were announced on June 4.
NEET ROW SC HEARING | TOP POINTS
Re-Test On Concrete Footing: The petitioners, seeking cancellation, re-examination and a court-monitored probe into the alleged irregularities, were asked by the apex court to show that the paper leak was "so systemic" and affected the entire examination that it warrants the exam's cancellation. "Re-examination has to be on a concrete footing that the entire exam is affected," the CJI said.
Investigation Will Be Affected: The top court, while hearing the pleas regarding the alleged irregularities in the NEET UG 2024, took note that the Central Bureau of Investigation is currently probing the matter. "If what the CBI has told us is revealed, it will affect the investigation and people will become wise."
Questions Over IIT Madras Report: Senior Advocate Narender Hooda raised concerns over the IIT Madras' analytics report which was based on the performance of 23 lakhs, saying that it is not "reliable". He told the SC that the analysis should have been done on the basis of 1 lakh eight thousand candidates who would get admission.
Increase In Syllabus, No Full Disclosure: Senior Advocate Narender Hooda told the apex court that the NTA and the government are giving two reasons for the inflation in marks, one that there was reduction in syllabus and the other was increase in candidature. "The reply is not giving full disclosure," Live Law quoted Hooda as saying. He further noted that there is both increase and decrease in the syllabus, adding that "they are not talking about the increase in syllabus".
Inflation In Marks & Leak Admitted: Showing data from the IIT Madras report to the Supreme Court, Sr Adv Hooda said that the "inflation of marks is admitted, leak is admitted". He noted that the curve in the data graph is "no indication that there is no abnormality". "Because, the data is too large, which cannot be caught. Granular variations can't be seen with this large data of 23 lakh candidates," he added.
SC Has Upheld Re-Examination: As a discussion over NTA affidavit annexing the details of top 100 ranks took place, senior advocate Hooda questioned as to why IIT Madras report has not captured that there were nine people from Jaipur who were in the top 100. Hooda said that the NTA has "not come clean" that the entire country had been given paper from SBI but Hardayal school paper was from Canara Bank.
"The principal says that the instruction was that let the students do Canara bank paper. They gave grace marks to everyone in the school. Because of that extra marks, 6 people got 720/720, two people from the same centre got 718," Hooda said. "To hush-up the matter, they have a re-exam," he added. The CJI responded saying that the issue had attained finality, adding that "this court has upheld the re-examination".
System To Catch Changes In Centres: The top court raised questions over students changing their centre, to which the NTA said that as of now, the system does not catch these changes. "In the name of corrections, they change centres. During that process, only the possibility of changing happens. We will never know it. As of now system doesn't catch that," the counsel for NTA said.
IIT Madras Report 'A Lie': Amid discussions over the change of centres and cities, the NTA informed the top court that only cities. It said that centre allotment takes place only two days before the exam. Interrupting the growing questions in this regard, senior lawyer Mathews Nedumpara said that the discussion was going off, adding that the only issue is whether re-test is needed. "No, this is the very heart of the issue." the CJI said. Additionally, Nedumpara termed the IIT Madras report to be "a lie". CJI Chandrachud objected to his remark and said, "Don't just use adjectives against a premier institute. Give us core facts."
Debate Over Rajasthan HC Order: The SC bench questioned NTA over the Rajasthan High Court order, citing which it had opened a new window for fresh applications. CJI noted that the court was for only one candidate. "We received several representations, so we thought, as a student friendly measure will open," the Solicitor General clarified. Chandrachud slammed NTA and said, "This order was only for one student who didn't pay fee. And what does NTA do? It allows every one to apply."
Chain Of Custody, Red Flag Raised: Senior Advocate Narender Hooda raised question over the chain of custody of the question papers, citing their dispatch date to the SBI/Canara bank branches in the 571 cities were the exams were conducted. The Solicitor General informed the court that there is a 7-layer safety system and explained it to the bench.
Paper Leak For 'Money' Not 'Charade': Citing the gap in the dispatch and delivery of question papers through a private courier company, senior advocate Narender Hooda said that there is a systemic failure in conducting the exam by NTA. He said that as per the Telegram videos show that the solved papers were being circulated on May 4 itself, adding that the NTA does not talk about determining the exact spread of the leaked question papers. The CJI responded saying, "Idea of somebody doing this is not to make a national charade of NEET exam. People were doing it for money. Therefore anybody who is making money out of it won't circulate it mass scale."
SC Asks NTA To Publish All Results By July 20: Supreme Court directed NTA to publish on its website the marks obtained by the students in the NEET-UG examination 2024, adding that the identity of students be masked. The result should be declared separately for city and centre, said Supreme Court. The Supreme Court will resume hearing pleas related to NEET-UG 2024 controversy on July 22.
