BREAKING| Supreme Court Dismisses Plea Challenging Decision To Hold UGC-NET Re-test On Aug 21

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition challenging the decision to hold a re-examination for the UGC-NET exam.

The petitioners challenged the decision taken by the authorities to cancel the previous UGC-NET exam held on June 18 and to hold a re-test on August 21.

The bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, noting that two months have passed since the first decision, said that entertaining the petition would only "add uncertainty and result in utter chaos."

"Let there be finality, we are not in a perfect world. Let the exams happen on August 21. Let there be certainty for students," CJI said.

The bench noted that over 9 lakh students are taking part in the exam and only 47 petitioners have challenged it.

It may be noted that the UGC-NET 2024 Exam took place on June 18 in which over 9 Lakh candidates appeared. The Ministry of Education on June 19 announced the cancellation of the Exam as prima facie indicators of the 'compromised integrity' of the exam were flagged by the National Cyber Crime Threat Analytics Unit under the Ministry of Home Affairs. The matter was handed over to CBI for further investigation.

The Union also announced that details for the fresh examination will be released soon. It may noted that the said decision came while the Top Court was already seized of the challenge to the NEET-UG 2024 Exams and alleged paper leaks.

It may be recalled that earlier, the Court had dismissed a similar plea challenging the cancellation of UGC-NET by an advocate. The Court remarked that the lawyer had no locus in the present case and it should be left to the candidates to approach the Court.

What The Petitioners Argue & The Relief Sought

The petitioners contend that since the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has recently found that the evidence suggesting a paper leak was fake, this raises questions on the reasonability for cancelling the exam. The petitioners claim that the cancellation has caused stress and wasted resources for many students who had prepared hard for the test.

It is argued that cancelling the exam based on false evidence is deeply unfair. They say it goes against the principles of fairness in India's Constitution. They also point out that the National Testing Agency (NTA) has set new exam dates for August-September 2024, even though the investigation is not finished. Additionally, it is pointed out that no clarity was given as to which shift's paper was leaked- shift 1 or shift 2.

The arbitrary nature of this decision reflects a lack of due diligence and disregard for the welfare of the primary stakeholders – the students. Adding to the arbitrariness of the decision is the fact that the NTA has issued new dates for the NET exam, scheduled for August-September 2024, despite the ongoing inquiry not being completed.

Furthermore, it is surprising that there has been no clarification regarding which paper was leaked—which shift's paper was leaked, Shift 1 or Shift 2, whether Paper 1 (common for all candidates) was leaked or Paper 2 (specific to each subject) was leaked

The main reliefs sought include : (1) direction to the UGC to show the evidence of the alleged paper leak; (2) direction to the CBI to share what they have found so far. If the CBI finds no leak happened, the students want the original exam results to be released; (3) If a leak did occur, the petitioners want to know which specific part of the exam was affected. They argue that only the leaked portions should be retaken, not the entire exam. If both papers were affected, then a re-examination is sought.

The Petitioners sought for the Court to monitor the re-examination and the constitution of a committee of experts to help prevent future problems in the re-examination. This is specifically prayed for since the petitioners state of their lack of confidence in the NTA is preventing cyber-attacks and paper leaks.

"This committee may be composed of retired or sitting justices, distinguished cyber law experts from esteemed institutions such as the IITs, administrative heads, and other renowned educational experts, or any other authorities deemed appropriate by this Hon'ble Court, or as per any order or direction this Hon'ble Court finds fit. This request is made because the National Testing Agency (NTA) is incapable of preventing cyber fraud or cyber attacks. The examination paper could potentially be leaked over the dark web again, and the NTA may once again be unable to prevent it. Consequently, the resources and efforts of lakhs of students could be wasted again."

Case Details: PARVEEN DABAS AND ORS. Versus MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND ORS. W.P.(C) No. 498/2024