Plea To Cancel NEET-UG 24 : Supreme Court Poses Queries To Centre & NTA- Live Updates (July 18)

CJI : Your contention is that the leak is widespread and systemic. How do you formulate that?

Hooda : There is a systemic failure in conducting the exam by NTA. Failure is multi-dimensional. Serial wise :

Transportation of question paper got compromised.

For 6 days question papers remained in the hands of a private courier company.

Question papers were transported in an e-rickshaw in Hazaribag. Instead of it being taken to the bank, E-rickshaw driver took it to the school.

Hooda : This trunk (containing papers) was found travelling on an e-rickshaw on the 3rd May in Hazaribagh under the open sky and it was received by the Principal of the school. The CBI arrested the Principal. The NTA affidavit does not refer to this.

Hooda says for Hazaribagh the despatch was on April 28, reads out from NTA affidavit.

SG : May I explain the system. There are two printing presses because there are two papers.

CJI : So the two printing presses started distributing papers between April 24-28.

SG : For cities.

SG : CBI has investigated the entire chain from the printers to the centre, how there was sealing, GPS tracking....there are digital lockers...I have given that detail. There is a 7-layer safety system.

Hooda : It was despatched on April 28...

CJI : You said April 24.

Hooda : For Hazaribag..

CJI : Was the despatch date the same for all centres?

CJI : These papers were sent to the SBI/Canara bank branches in the 571 cities.

Hooda : Yes.

CJI : They were despatched on April 24 and received on May 3. So time gap is about 9 days.

Hooda : Now coming to the chain of custody. Their case is that the question papers were despatched to the centres on April 24 through a private courier company. It reached the SBI and Canara banks on 3rd May.

CJI : They were sent to SBI/Canara branches in those cities?

Hooda shows topics increased in subjects, says they were notified just 5 months ahead of exam.

Hooda : Surprisingly, the NTA does not make any whisper on this. They should have come clean on this.

CJI : Mr.Hooda, you have to have something more concrete.

Hooda : I am going to show there is an increase in syllabus.

CJI : Show us that.

Hooda : The increase in the number of candidates in the 550-720 range is five-fold compared to previous years.

CJI : Can this be an indication of a leak?

Hooda : It is a red flag.