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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday directed the National Testing Agency (NTA) to submit a “full disclosure report” detailing the nature of the NEET paper leak to determine whether re-examination of 24 lakh medical aspirants is required.
Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud said, “If you cannot separate the grain from the chaff, that is, cannot distinguish between contaminated and impure grain, then retesting will have to be ordered.”
A Supreme Court bench of Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Mishra is hearing petitions challenging alleged malpractices and irregularities in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG 2024) conducted by the NTA for admission to medical colleges.
The apex court’s decision will impact the fate of around 24 lakh students aspiring to become doctors.
“We wish to direct the National Testing Agency to make full disclosure of the following aspects before the court: first, the nature of the leak; second, where the leak took place; third, the time gap between the incident of leak and the examination; and fourth, the manner of dissemination of the leaked question papers,” Chandrachud said in the oral order.
During the hearing, the Supreme Court said it was important to assess the extent of the leak, and added that if the exam question paper had been leaked through social media or electronic platforms, it would have spread “like wildfire”.
The Supreme Court has also sought a report from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the status of the probe into alleged irregularities in the medical entrance exam.
On Monday, the apex court sought details about the modus operandi of the leak and the steps taken by the NTA to trace the beneficiaries of the leak.
The Chief Justice also asked if it was possible for the government and the NTA to identify suspicious cases using data analytics and cyber forensics, “so that the tainted students can be separated from the untainted ones”.
The NTA, the government and the CBI have to place on record everything sought by the Supreme Court by 5 pm on Wednesday. The court will hear the case next on Thursday.
What do the petitioners want?
The petitioners, including parents, students and coaching centres, have objected to the award of grace marks and demanded fresh exams in view of alleged paper leak and other irregularities and discrepancies in answer sheets.
He also demanded that the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) should investigate how these entrance exams are conducted.
Additionally, there is also a demand for appointing an independent committee to probe the matter thoroughly, which will also impact the next batch of candidates.
The Supreme Court said that the government will have to decide whether to allow counselling to continue or not. The Supreme Court said, “The court is concerned about what steps should be taken to ensure the sanctity of the examination, so that such incidents that happened during the current session are not repeated in future.”
The Chief Justice had earlier said that though it cannot be denied that the NEET paper was leaked, the extent of the leak must be ascertained and it should also be seen whether it is worth holding the exam again as it would affect 24 lakh students appearing for the medical entrance exam.
The Supreme Court said that the government may consider forming a multi-disciplinary committee of experts to ensure that steps are taken to prevent any such violations in future. If any such committee has been formed, its full details should be submitted to the court.
The government has constituted a committee to enhance the structure, processes, data management and security protocols of NTA, the exam conducting body.
Though the government has refused to conduct re-examination for all students, it has cancelled the grace marks given to 1,563 students and conducted re-examination for them.
A committee has been set up to improve the structure, processes, data management and security protocols of the National Testing Agency. The agency’s director Subodh Kumar Singh has been sacked and a new law has been notified to prevent unfair practices in public examinations.
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