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Informist, Tuesday, Jul 23, 2024

 

--SC refuses to cancel NEET exam, says cancellation not justified 

--CONTEXT: SC order on pleas relating to irregularities in NEET exam 

--SC: Data not indicative of systemic leak of NEET question paper 

--SC: Fresh NEET exam would have serious consequences for students 

 

NEW DELHI - The Supreme Court today refused to cancel the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) exam after noting that it was not justified. The court said that the data on record was not indicative of a systemic leak of the medical entrance test question paper which would indicate a disruption of the sanctity of the exam.

 

The Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud said that directing a fresh medical entrance test for the present year would be replete with serious consequences for over 2.4 mln students who appeared in the exam. The top court said that ordering a fresh examination would disrupt the admission schedule, have a cascading effect on the course of medical education, impact availability of qualified medical professionals in the future and be seriously disadvantageous for the marginalised group for whom reservation was made in allocation of seats.  

The court observed that the National Testing Agency had conducted a special test for 1,563 candidates, and they were given the option to either appear for re-test or forgo grace marks. The apex court asked the agency to act accordingly. The court said that the principal issue before it was regarding the sanctity of the exam and whether a fresh retest was needed. 

 

The court noted that the government had also formed a seven-member expert committee to propose exam reforms and review the operations of the National Testing Agency. The committee shall abide by the further directions as may be issued by the court to ensure that the process of conducting the medical entrance exam is duly strengthened so that issues cited now do not arise in future, said the Bench that also included Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra.

 

Further, the court observed that the fact that the medical entrance test paper leak took place at Hazaribagh and Patna is not disputed. The court said that according to the Central Bureau of Investigation's report, 155 students drawn from the exam centres at Hazaribagh and Patna appeared to be the beneficiaries of the fraud.

 

The court had earlier asked the government to indicate whether certain trends regarding abnormality or otherwise could be drawn from results from 4,750 centres across 571 cities. It noted an analysis by IIT Madras indicating the position on the basis of data analytics. After noting the data, the top court said there was an absence of material on record to lead to the conclusion that the result of the exam was vitiated. 

 

"The court is guided by the well-settled test of possibility of segregating the tainted from untainted. Moreover it is important to clarify that if the investigation reveals the involvement of increased number of beneficiaries, action will be taken against them," said the court.

 

The apex court also noted a report by a committee of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, about two options in a question. The report had said that only one option was correct. The court said that in view of the report, the two options were mutually exclusive and cannot stand together. "We accept the IIT Delhi report and accordingly NTA (National Testing Agency) shall re-tally the NEET UG result on the basis that option four represents the only correct answer to the question," said the apex court.

 

The court was hearing a batch of petitions seeking cancellation of the entire medical entrance test exam, re-test for a fair and secure exam, and investigation into the alleged irregularities in this year's entrance test.

 

The petitioners had moved the apex court after allegations of paper leaks and potential malpractices during the medical entrance test exam held on May 5. The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for undergraduate students was taken by 2.3 mln people across 4,750 centres in 571 cities, including 14 cities overseas. The entrance test was for admission to undergraduate medical education at all medical institutions.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Vandana Hingorani

 

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