SC dismisses petition for re-test of NEET-UG

     New Delhi, July 23, 2024: The Supreme Court today dismissed petitions seeking re-test of the controversial NEET-UG examination-2024, saying that there was no evidence on record to conclude that it was “vitiated” on account of “systemic breach” of its sanctity.

    This gave a respite to the Modi government and the National Testing Agency (NTA), which were under attack from street to Parliament over alleged large-scale malpractices like question paper leak, fraud and impersonation in the entrance exam.

    Over 23 lakh students appeared for the NEET UG (National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate) held in May 5, 2024 for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses.

    The bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud with Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra as members heard submissions from a lawyers, including Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre and the NTA, and senior advocates Narender Hooda, Sanjay Hegde and Mathews Nedumapra for various petitioners.

     Referring to its independent scrutiny of the data placed by the NTA and others, the CJI said, “At the present stage, there is absence of material on record to lead to conclusion that the result of the examination is vitiated or that there is systemic breach of the sanctity of the exam,” media reports said.

    The data on record is “not indicative of a systemic leak of the question paper which would indicate a disruption of the sanctity of the examination”, the bench said.

   It said ordering the test afresh would be replete with serious consequences for over 24 lakh students who appeared in the examination.

    The court, however, said the fact that the leak of question paper indeed took place in Hazaribagh and Patna is “not in dispute”, and referred to the Central Bureau of Investigation’s status report to say that 155 students drawn from the exam centres at Hazaribagh and Patna appeared to be the beneficiaries of the fraud.

    On the issue of a controversial physics question that was asked in the examination, the bench accepted the report of the experts of IIT Delhi that there was only one right answer and not two as alleged by some lawyers.

    “In view of the experts’ determination, we have no manner of doubt with regard to the correct option… we accept the IIT Delhi report and accordingly the NTA shall re-tally the NEET UG result on the basis that option 4 represents the only correct answer to the question,” it said.

    Doubts about the sanctity of the exam arose when a total of 67 students scored a perfect 720, unprecedented in the NTA’s history, with six from a Haryana centre figuring in the list.