GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 18th July. The Supreme Court of India is scheduled to hear a series of petitions on Thursday regarding the controversy surrounding the NEET-UG 2024 medical entrance exam, which took place on May 5. According to the cause list for July 18 posted on the apex court’s website, a bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra will hear over 40 pleas.
Among the petitions is one filed by the National Testing Agency (NTA), seeking to transfer cases related to the NEET-UG controversy from various high courts to the Supreme Court to prevent multiple litigations. The top court had previously adjourned the hearing on these petitions on July 11, setting the new date for July 18. The adjournment was due to pending responses from the Centre and the NTA, which some parties had yet to receive.
The petitions include requests for the cancellation of the exam, a re-test, and an investigation into alleged malpractices in the conduct of NEET-UG 2024. The bench had observed that it received a status report from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the progress made in the probe into the alleged irregularities in the conduct of the exam.
In an additional affidavit submitted to the apex court last week, the Centre stated that data analytics conducted by IIT-Madras on the NEET-UG 2024 results found no indication of “mass malpractice” or localised benefits leading to abnormally high scores. This assertion is significant in light of the Supreme Court’s July 8 observation that it might order a re-test if large-scale malpractices were discovered. The Centre’s latest affidavit highlighted that experts from IIT-Madras found the marks distribution to follow a bell-shaped curve, typical of any large-scale examination, indicating no abnormality.
While hearing the pleas on July 8, the top court had observed that the sanctity of the NEET-UG 2024 had been “breached”. Saying that a re-test may be ordered if the entire process was affected, the bench had sought details from the NTA and the CBI, including the timing and manner of the alleged paper leak, besides the number of wrongdoers to understand the extent of irregularities claimed by the petitioners.
On May 5, more than 23.33 lakh students appeared for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) at 4,750 centers across 571 cities, including 14 overseas locations. The exam, conducted by the National Testing Agency, is crucial for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH, and other related courses in government and private institutions throughout India.
In recent affidavits submitted to the Supreme Court, the Centre and the NTA argued against cancelling the exam. They emphasised that such a move would be “counterproductive” and would “seriously jeopardise” the futures of lakhs of honest candidates, especially in the absence of evidence pointing to a large-scale breach of confidentiality.
Comments are closed.