NEET-UG 2024 | 'It's Understood That Admission Is Subject To Outcome Of Petitions' : Supreme Court Refuses To Stay Counselling

In relation to the NEET-UG 2024 controversy, the Supreme Court on Thursday (June 20) reiterated that it was not staying the counselling process.

"We are not staying the counselling," a vacation bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and SVN Bhatti said.

Issuing notice on a batch of writ petitions alleging paper leaks and discrepancies in the conduct and evaluation of the NEET-UG exam for medical admissions, the Court orally said that it is understood that the admission process will be subject to the final result of the petitions.

The bench stated this when one of the lawyers urged it to observe in the order that the admission process would be subject to the outcome of the petitions. Declining to make such an explicit observation in the order, Justice Nath orally said, "That is already understood Mr.Counsel. All this has been argued from day 1. They wanted stay of counselling, we denied.  Ultimately if you succeed, then everything will go. If the examination goes, the counselling will also go."

One counsel raised suspicions about 67 students scoring the full marks of 720, terming it "unprecedented." He submitted that there should be a check on the academic background of all candidates who scored more than 680 marks.

Another counsel raised the issue of some students in a testing centre in Meghalaya losing 40-45 minutes time during the exam. Notice was issued on that petition as well. Another petitioner raised the allegation that certain MCQ questions were wrong.

The bench also declined the request of another petitioner to stay the re-test for 1563 students (who were awarded grace marks), which is scheduled on June 23. Another petitioner requested the Court to seek a status report from the Bihar and Gujarat Police on the investigation into cases of alleged paper leak.

Advocate Sameer Sodhi appearing for Unacademy in another petition highlighted the need for an independent committee. He submitted that presently the National Testing Agency (NTA) has two committees- the Grievance Redressal and the HPC- High Powered Committee. However, since the chairman of the HPC is the head of the NTA, it was imperative to have a separate committee to look into the present concerns being raised.

These petitions will be next heard on July 8 along with the connected matters on which the responses of the Centre and the NTA were sought earlier. Petitions seek the cancellation of the NEET-UG 2024 exam and the results declared on June 4. The petitioners also seek the conduct of a re-examination.

It may be recalled that on June 18 the Court told the Union Government and the National Testing Agency (NTA) to ensure that even '0.001% negligence' in conducting the NEET-UG 2024 exams be looked into with all seriousness considering the immense labour that the candidates have put in for preparing the nationwide examination. 

"Even if there is 0.001% negligence on the part of anyone, it should be thoroughly dealt with. All these matters ought not to be treated as adversarial litigation." Justice Bhatti remarked. 

Justice Bhatti also said that a candidate who becomes a doctor after playing fraud in the exam is more dangerous to the society. He added that the judges are conscious of the hard work which the candidates put in for this highly competitive exam.

"Imagine a situation where a person who has played fraud on the system, has become a doctor, he is more deleterious towards society....we all know the labour the children undergo especially for preparing for these exams." 

Justice Bhatti also expressed that the NTA should act proactively and must admit if there is any mistake. This will re-instil the confidence of the public in the NEET examinations.

"Your stance (the NTA and Union) ought not to change the moment you enter the court, representing the Agency which is responsible for conducting the examination. You must stand firm- if there is a mistake, yes there is a mistake, this is the action we will take- at least that inspires confidence in your performance....if someone keeps just a table in front of him, find out the performance of most of the candidates, one can easily understand where it has gone wrong, how many cell phones were used...clearly we react, but in vacation we react slowly." 

Case Details : TANMAYA SHARMA and others vs NATIONAL TESTING AGENCY W.P.(C) No. 383/2024, ELEAZER VINCENT LYNGDOH AND ORS. Versus NATIONAL TESTING AGENCY (NTA) AND ORS. W.P.(C) No. 381/2024, M/S SORTING HAT SOLUTIONS PRIVATE LIMITED VS. UNION OF INDIA DIARY NO. - 26579/2024 and Other Similar Matters