NEET-UG 2024 row: Evidence shows that question paper was leaked, says SC

The Supreme Court bench, led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said that it is assessing the character of the leak, rather than confirming its occurrence

The Supreme Court on Monday, while addressing multiple petitions for a review of NEET-UG 2024, said that there was evidence indicating the leakage of the question paper.

The apex court said, “There are certain red flags, 67 candidates scoring 720/720; in previous years, the proportion was very low. If a leak has been propagated through social media, then a re-test has to be ordered.”

The top court further said that it is presently assessing the character of the leak, rather than confirming its occurrence. “You don’t cancel a whole exam only because two students engaged in malpractice. Therefore, we must be careful about the nature of leaks. Before we order a re-test, we must be conscious of the extent of leak as we are dealing with 2.3 million students.”

 

The court said, “If the sanctity of the exam is lost, then a re-test has to be ordered. If we are unable to identify those who are guilty, then a re-test has to be ordered.”

“Let us not be in self-denial about what happened. Assuming that the government does not cancel the exam, what will it do to identify the beneficiaries of the question paper leak?” the court stated.

The Supreme Court bench, led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, was also examining a plea filed by more than 50 successful NEET-UG candidates from Gujarat. The candidates are requesting an injunction against the Centre and the National Testing Agency (NTA) to halt the proposed cancellation of the controversial examination.

NEET-UG exam retake controversy

Allegations have been made regarding irregularities and malpractices in the test held on May 5, with calls for a retake of the exam. However, the Centre and the NTA, responsible for NEET-UG administration, oppose cancelling the exam.

They said that cancelling the exam would have negative consequences and could “seriously jeopardise” the prospects of many honest candidates, especially in the absence of substantial evidence of widespread misconduct.

The ongoing dispute has reached the political arena, involving Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, who have engaged in heated exchanges regarding allegations and disruptions affecting students.

The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) is crucial for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH, and related courses across government and private educational institutions nationwide.

NTA, Centre file affidavits in Supreme Court

In response to legal petitions seeking cancellation of the exam, a retest, and a court-monitored investigation, both the Ministry of Education and the NTA have submitted separate affidavits to the Supreme Court. They oppose these requests, citing ongoing investigations by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into cases across several states.

The Centre, in its affidavit, said, “It is also submitted that at the same time, in the absence of any proof of any large-scale breach of confidentiality in a pan-India examination, it would not be rational to scrap the entire examination and the results already declared.”

In a separate affidavit, the NTA said, “The cancellation of the entire examination... would be hugely counterproductive and significantly harmful to the larger public interest, especially to the career prospects of the qualified candidates.”

[With agency inputs]