SC to Hear Further Petitions Related to NEET-UG 2024 Exam Issue

The Supreme Court heard petitions regarding the 2024 NEET-UG exam controversy, involving alleged paper leaks and grading irregularities. The court is considering evidence of widespread malpractice while balancing the interests of millions of students against exam integrity.

The highest bench of Indian judiciary on Thursday entertained the petitions for re-conducting or scrapping the 2024 NEET-UG medical entrance examination over charges of question paper leaks and bias in evaluating answer keys. 

The apex bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud further added the court would only order a re-test if the ‘purity’ of May 5 exam was contaminated ‘en-masse. ’ The bench sought proof of systematic leakage which impacts the entire process of examination.

When the petition was being presented for the petitioners, senior advocate Narender Hooda argued against security measures required in the transportation of question papers. Union Solicitor General Tushar Mehta of the National Testing Agency (NTA) defended the ‘seven tier security mechanism’ of which GPS tracking is also a part.

The court also looked at an examination score analysis report generated by IIT Madras. While the NTA stated that no abnormalities were observed during the data analysis, Hooda asserted that the proper approach would be to consider the 1. It does not say all the 24 lakh test-takers have cleared the exams and got placed but only 08 lakh successful candidates.

When an odd number of students scored full marks in an examination last month, controversy arose when 67 students achieved the maximum possible 720 marks. Concerns were also raised over the so-called “grace marks” given to more than one thousand five hundred students.

The CBI is now probing this paper leak scandal which is said to have been conducted by a school in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh. As of the moment, nine people have been arrested, including one of the most prominent members of the gang.

The event has raised political concerns, with the opposition parties taken to the well of the House to voice their concerns against the ruling BJP government.

Also Read: NEET UG 2024 ‘Paper Leak’ Case: Supreme Court Postpones Until July 18

Worse still, as the court weighs the evidence, it is torn between the need to ensure millions of aspiring medical students get a fair shot at scoring high marks on the examination and the need to safeguard the integrity of the examination process. Regarding the outcome of the final examination, a decision on whether to order a re-test is still outstanding.