NEET Hearing Summary: Key Questions By Supreme Court On NEET UG 2024 Cancellation

The Supreme Court of India is conducting a hearing today, 18th July, on multiple pleas requesting the cancellation of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2024 exam. The Chief Justice of India (CJI) addressed Senior Advocate Narender Hooda, stressing the need to demonstrate that the exam leak was pervasive and significantly compromised the integrity of the entire examination to justify its cancellation.

CJI Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud remarked, "Merely because out of 23 lakh only one lakh will get admission, we cannot order a re-examination. Re-examination has to be on a concrete footing that the entire exam is affected." The petitioner countered, highlighting that the issue concerns only one lakh candidates rather than all 23 lakh participants. The Supreme Court raised several key questions during the hearing:

1. Did the leak affect the entire examination?
The CJI challenged the senior advocate to prove that the leak was extensive enough to necessitate the cancellation of the whole exam. Senior Advocate Hooda responded, "The handicap I have is that they have not declared the entire results. UPSC declares the results of all candidates. At least NTA should have declared the results of the one lakh people who would get admission."

2. How many seats are in government and private medical colleges?
Senior Advocate Hooda explained that there are 56,000 seats in government medical colleges and 52,000 in private ones, making a total of 1,08,000 seats. He clarified, "If a re-exam happens, the total number is one lakh eight thousand and not twenty-three lakhs."

3. How many students are involved in the petition?
Senior Advocate Hooda noted that some petitioners are among the 1,08,000 candidates seeking government seats.

4. What are the minimum marks received by the petitioners?
The Solicitor General revealed that 131 students, who do not fall within the 1,08,000, are requesting a re-test, while 254 within the 1,08,000 oppose the re-test.

5. What is the cut-off mark for the 56,000 government seats and the 1,08,000 total seats?
Senior Advocate Hooda stated that anyone above the 50th percentile qualifies, with the cut-off mark being 164. He mentioned that about half the petitioners meet the qualifications for seat allocation. Admissions are dynamic, with some candidates opting for other fields such as IIT. Hooda remarked, "The figures may come down. I am starting with a handicap. I do not have the results. Because of that, I cannot have the data analytics."

6. What role does NTA have in relation to JEE?
The Solicitor General explained that the JEE Mains is conducted by the NTA, whereas the JEE Advanced 2024 was conducted by the Indian Institute of Technology Madras.

The Supreme Court is set to hear over 40 petitions concerning the NEET cancellation and issues with the NTA today. The outcome of this judgment will significantly affect over 23 lakh medical aspirants seeking admission to MBBS and BDS programmes across India.