The Supreme Court of India on Tuesday, 23 July, dismissed petitions calling for the cancellation and re-test of NEET-UG 2024 amidst ongoing controversy surrounding allegations of question paper leaks and other malpractices. The apex court cited a lack of evidence indicating a systemic leak of question papers and other malpractices. A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra heard submissions from a battery of lawyers, including Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre and the National Testing Agency (NTA) and senior advocates Narender Hooda, Sanjay Hegde and Mathews Nedumapra for around four days.
The Supreme Court noted that no data was recorded to indicate a systemic leak of question papers and other malpractices. “There is the absence of material to conclude that the result of the NEET-UG 2024 exam is vitiated or there is a systemic breach,” CJI Chandrachud said. The bench, however, acknowledged that a question paper leak did occur in Hazaribagh, and Patna was not in dispute.
The SC bench also noted that ordering the cancellation of the entire exam is ‘not justified’ on the application of settled principles propounded by the court based on material on record. The court further stated that counselling and other admission processes for NEET-UG 2024 will continue. The apex court will give guidelines as to the future conduct of exams.
The CJI Chandrachud-led bench stated that the tainted students can be differentiated from the untainted students who wrote the NEET-UG 2024 examination. The SC said that if the CBI probe reveals an increased number of beneficiaries of malpractices, then action shall be taken against any such student at any stage, notwithstanding the completion of the counselling process. “No student revealed to have been in this fraud or a beneficiary would be entitled to claim any vested right in continuance of admission”, SC stated.
The Supreme Court said that directing a fresh NEET UG 2024 exam would be replete with serious consequences affecting over 24 lakh students who appeared in this exam and cause disruption of the admission schedule. The court further noted that a re-test of the NEET-UG examination would have cascading effects on the course of medical education, impact the availability of qualified medical professionals in the future, and seriously disadvantage the marginalized group for whom the reservation was made in the allocation of seats.
The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) conducted by the NTA has sparked a major political controversy and student protests. Allegations of widespread malpractices, including question paper leaks and impersonation, marred the exam held on 5 May. NEET-UG 2024 saw participation from 23.33 lakh students across 4,750 centres in 571 cities, including 14 overseas locations.
