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New Delhi/Mumbai: The Supreme Court on Monday directed the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to submit a “full disclosure report” on the extent of paper leak in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) to ascertain whether re-examination of 24 lakh medical aspirants is required.
Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said, “We wish to direct the National Testing Agency to make full disclosure before the court on the following aspects: 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.”
The apex court bench of Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Mishra was hearing series of petitions challenging alleged malpractices and irregularities in NEET-UG 2024 conducted by the NTA.
The apex court’s decision may impact the fate of around 24 lakh students appearing for the entrance exam this year aspiring to become doctors.
Though the court said there had been a leak, it wanted to find out the extent and manner in which the irregularities took place before taking any decision.
‘Some got the question paper a few hours before the exam’
The CJI said, “Now one thing is clear that there has been a leak… If we are unable to identify the students who are guilty of wrongdoing, then a re-examination will have to be ordered.” During the nearly two-hour-long hearing, the lawyers alleged that some students had received the question paper just hours before the exam on May 5.
The CJI sought to know the modalities of the exam which was conducted at 4,750 centres in 571 cities in India and 14 cities outside the country. He sought details of the supply chain, including at what time the paper was leaked, how many days before the exam the papers were sent to bank lockers for safekeeping and how the papers were transported, according to the investigation.
“If you cannot differentiate between grain and chaff, that is, between contaminated and impure…on the other hand we are dealing with the situation of 23 lakh (students),” he said.
So far, the government has refused to hold a re-examination for NEET and has only conducted re-examination for 1,536 students who were given grace marks – but here, almost half the students did not even appear for the re-examination.
“The petitioner students have expressed satisfaction at the Supreme Court’s acceptance that the NEET-UG 2024 exam paper was indeed leaked. The Court’s acceptance of this breach lends considerable credence to their claims of systemic irregularities and damage to the integrity of the exam,” said Gauhar Mirza, partner at law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, who has filed a petition in the Delhi High Court on behalf of three students challenging the grace marks awarded to some of the students who appeared for the exam.
All the petitions filed in various courts were clubbed together and the case was taken up for hearing by the Supreme Court.
During the hearing, the apex court highlighted that it is important to assess the extent of the leak – if it had happened through social media or electronic platforms, it would have spread “like wildfire”.
The Supreme Court also said that the CBI should also file a status report on the investigation into alleged irregularities in the medical entrance examination.
Also read: NEET-UG 2024 counselling expected to begin by July-end, additional seats may be added: Report
The CJI asked if it was possible for the central government and the NTA to use data analytics and cyber-forensics to identify the suspects. The court directed the NTA, the central government and the CBI to place all details of their investigation on record by 5 pm on Wednesday. The next hearing is on Thursday.
The petitioners, including parents, students and coaching centres, have objected to the award of grace marks, sought fresh exams due to paper leaks and other irregularities, alleged anomalies in the Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets, and sought a probe by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) into the manner in which these exams were conducted.
The Supreme Court said that the government will have to decide on whether to allow counselling to go ahead or not. Counselling is the process through which students are informed whether they have got a seat in one of the 108,940 medical colleges or not.
As of now the counselling has been postponed from July 6 till further notice.
“The court is concerned about the steps to be taken to ensure the sanctity of NEET so that incidents such as those that occurred during the current session are not repeated in future,” the Chief Justice said.
The court suggested that the government may consider forming a multi-disciplinary committee consisting of experts to ensure that steps are taken to prevent any violations in future. The court said that if any such committee has been formed, its full details should be submitted to the court.
The government has already constituted a committee to enhance the structure, processes, data management and security protocols of NTA.
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