NEET Retest: Chief Justice Asks Key Question - How Far Did Paper Leak Spread?

Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, while addressing petitions about the NEET-UG 2024 medical entrance exam, remarked that the question paper leak is an "admitted fact."

The National Testing Agency (NTA) informed the court that the CBI is investigating and six FIRs have been filed.

The CJI responded, "So, it's an admitted fact that the paper was leaked."

Photo Credit: PTI

The court began hearing multiple petitions concerning the NEET-UG exam, reported India Today. These include requests to cancel and re-conduct the exam due to alleged irregularities and malpractices in the May 5 test.

A bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, with Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, is reviewing 38 petitions related to this nationwide test for admissions to various medical courses.

Allegations of Irregularities

Petitioners' counsels argued that the NTA did not follow standard procedures during the examination.

They claimed there were significant discrepancies at a systemic level. Allegations of irregularities, including paper leaks and issues in granting grace marks, have led to protests and political outcry across India.

An unprecedented 67 students initially scored a perfect 720, raising suspicions when six top scorers came from a single centre in Haryana.

The results were announced on June 4, ten days earlier than scheduled. This has intensified concerns about the integrity of the exam process.

Government's Stance

The government and NTA have opposed scrapping the exam, citing a lack of evidence for widespread breaches of confidentiality. They argue that cancelling the exam would negatively impact thousands of honest candidates.

The Union Education Minister stated in an affidavit, "In the absence of any proof of any large-scale breach of confidentiality in a pan-India examination, it would not be rational to scrap the entire examination and the results already declared."

The government added that cancelling the exam would jeopardise lakhs of honest candidates who attempted it in 2024.

Echoing this sentiment, NTA's affidavit described cancelling the exam as "counterproductive and significantly harmful" to public interest and career prospects of qualified candidates.

Supreme Court's Observations

On June 11, while considering a similar petition, the Supreme Court noted that "the sanctity of exams has been affected" and demanded answers from the Centre and NTA.

Justice Amanullah told NTA's counsel, "It is not that simple. Because you have done it, it is sacrosanct. Sanctity has been affected, so we need answers."

The petitions seek to scrap the exam, request a re-test, and call for a court-monitored investigation into issues raised over the examination taken by over 23 lakh candidates across 4,750 centres in 571 cities.

CBI Investigation

The CBI has taken up investigations into allegations and cases registered in various states. Additionally, a high-level expert committee has been formed by the government to propose measures ensuring transparent and fair examinations by NTA.

The agency's chairman was also replaced as part of these efforts.

The ongoing legal proceedings highlight significant concerns about maintaining fairness in national examinations. Ensuring transparency remains crucial for upholding trust in such critical assessments.