New Delhi, July 8: The Supreme Court on Monday, hearing pleas over the NEET-UG 2024 matter, made an important observation and said that there was no doubt that the paper was leaked and that cancelling the exam would be the last resort. "If sanctity of exam is lost, then re-test has to be ordered," said the SC. The SC bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud, Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra made the observations while hearing a batch of petitions challenging the NEET-UG 2024 exam.
However, the court also observed, "You don't cancel a whole exam only because 2 students engaged in malpractice. Therefore, we must be careful about the nature of leak. Before we order a re-test we must be conscious of extent of leak as we are dealing with 23 lakh students."
Observing that there was no doubt regarding the paper leak, the SC said, "The question is, how widespread is the reach (of the leak)? The paper leak is an admitted fact."
The Supreme Court also asked what actions the Centre and NTA have taken to identify the beneficiary students of the wrongdoing.
The Supreme Court asked how many students' results have been withheld owing to leakage which took place and asked about the geographical distribution of these students.
"Are we still finding out the wrongdoers and have we been able to identify the beneficiaries?" the top Court questioned the government. Supreme Court also observed that there should be a sort of a multi-disciplinary committee of experts from across the country.
"We are dealing with the most prestigious branch of study and every middle-class person wants their children to study either medicine or engineering, assuming we are not going to cancel the exam, how do we identify the beneficiaries and if we can allow the counselling to happen and what has happened so far," commented the Supreme Court.
Supreme Court also said that it was apprised that FIRs (in the case) were registered in Patna, Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Jharkhand. Whether the FIR in relation to paper leak is confined to Patna is a matter which requires detailed consideration, said the apex court.
The SC posted for July 11 hearing on pleas alleging irregularities in NEET-UG exam that was held on May 5.
The NTA and the Union education ministry are under fire over alleged large-scale malpractices ranging from question paper leaks to impersonation in the test held on May 5.
The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) is conducted by the NTA for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country. Allegations of irregularities, including paper leaks, rocked the exams and led to a massive controversy and political backclash.
