Supreme Court Adjourns Pleas To Cancel NEET-UG 2024; Next Posting On July 18

The Supreme Court on Thursday (July 11) adjourned the hearing of the petitions seeking the cancellation of the NEET-UG 2024 exam until next Thursday (July 18).

The Court granted the adjournment to enable the petitioners to file their responses to the affidavits filed by the Centre and the National Testing Agency yesterday. Though the bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud initially proposed to list the matters on next Monday (July 15), Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta cited a personal difficulty. SG stated that both he and the Attorney General won't be available on Monday and Tuesday. Considering that next Wednesday is a holiday (owing to Muharram), the Court then posted the matters to next Thursday.

The bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud, Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra was considering a batch of petitions seeking the cancellation of the NEET-UG 2024 exam held on May 5 on account of paper leak and unfair means.

Yesterday, the Union Government filed an affidavit denying any mass malpractice in the NEET-UG 2024 exam. It said that the data analytics done by the Indian Institute of Technology Madras showed that mark distribution followed a bell-shaped curve that is seen in any large-scale exam, indicating no abnormalities.

The NTA, on its part, has filed an affidavit stating that the video showing a photo of the NEET UG exam paper leaked on Telegram on May 4 was fake. The timestamp was manipulated to create a false impression of an early leak, it added.

On the last hearing date (July 8), a bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud sought the responses of the Union/NTA on the extent of the paper leak and possible segregation of the wrongdoers from others. The Court said that if the sanctity of the entire exam has been affected and it was impossible to seperate the beneficiaries of fraud from the honest candidates, then a re-test may be necessary. The Court also said that the re-test would be the last option, considering the impact on nearly 24 lakh students.

What Is The NEET-UG Matter About?

Notice was issued on May 17 in the lead petition titled Vanshika Yadav v. Union of India which seeks re-conduct of NEET UG 2024, in light of the alleged malpractices and paper leak of the exam.

While the top Court refused to grant a stay on the results of the NEET-UG 2024 exam, the bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud agreed to consider the matter and posted it for hearing after summer vacations (in July).

Several petitions have been filed before the top Court since, alleging that the nationwide examination held on May 5 by NTA was riddled with malpractices as various instances of paper leaks came to light. Subsequent to the declaration of the NEET-UG Results, additional pleas were raised against the 'arbitrary' grant of grace marks to 1536 candidates on grounds of 'loss of time' purportedly to give 'back-door entry' to certain individuals.

One of the petitions in the batch seeks recall of the NEET-UG 2024 results and conduct of a fresh examination. Other petitions seek CBI investigation into the alleged malpractices in the conduct of the exam. Notice has been issued in these matters and they have been tagged for a combined hearing.

Opposing the calls for 're-NEET' and cancelling results of the NEET-UG 2024 exam, a petition has also been filed in the Supreme Court by 56 Gujarat-based medical students for not re-conducting NEET afresh.

Another petition alleges, among other things, the involvement of NTA officers in manipulating the OMR sheets.

When the batch was last heard on July 8, the Court posed questions to the Union Government and NTA regarding the nature of the paper leak and steps taken to identify the beneficiaries of fraudulent practices. Stating that the occurrence of the paper leak in the NEET-UG exam could not be denied, it further said that what remained to be ascertained was if the nature of the leak was widespread or isolated, in order to decide the question of ordering a re-test.

Key Developments During Hearing By The Vacation Bench

When the petitions came up for hearing before a Vacation Bench, the Court verbally stressed the need for NTA to accept accountability if there have been any mistakes on its part. It also observed that it was imperative for NTA to efficiently answer the Court considering how the 'sanctity' of the NEET-UG Examinations has been affected.

On June 21, the top Court refused to stay counselling process for medical admissions and clarified that any such admissions will be subject to the outcome of the pending petitions. On July 5, the NTA and Centre informed it that they were not in favor of cancelling the exam in entirety.

It may be noted that on June 22, the Ministry of Education constituted a high-level committee of experts to make recommendations on 'Reform in the mechanism of the examination process, improvement in Data Security protocols and structure and functioning of NTA'. The Expert Committee will be chaired by Former ISRO Chairman Dr K Radhakrishnan.

Case Details : Vanshika Yadav v. UOI, W.P.(C) No. 335-/2024 (and connected matters)

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