NEET-UG 2024: SC Says Cannot Deny Paper Leak, Asks If Wrongdoers Can Be Identified To Avoid Re-Test For All

The Supreme Court on Monday heard the petitioners seeking a re-test in the NEET-UG examinations conducted in 2024 for admission to medical entrance exams and said that the Centre cannot deny that papers were leaked

The petitioners however contended that the NTA should also be investigated. The petitioners however contended that the NTA should also be investigated. 

Source : PTI Images

The Supreme Court on Monday heard the petitioners seeking a re-test in the NEET-UG examinations conducted in 2024 for admission to medical entrance exams and said that the Centre cannot deny that paper leak was there. The top court asked the National Testing Agency (NTA) and Centre to explain to the court if the tainted candidates can be separated from the untainted ones. The court further asked Centre to tell what actions have been taken to ensure that students who benefitted from paper leak do not enter the system. 

"Are we still in the process of identifying the tainted students?" the Supreme Court asked while maintaining that re-examination for 24 lakh students is a decision of last resort.

The bench headed by CJI Chandrachud told Centre "let's not be in self-denial" and further added that with the kind of technology we have, the Centre and NTA have to answer if it is possible to analyse the data and find out the wrongdoers.

 The CJI then said that they may consider re-examination for suspected wrongdoers.

SC May Order Re-Examination If They Cannot Segregate Wrongdoers From Un-tainted Students

It will have to be scrutinised whether: (1) Alleged breach has taken place at systemic level; (2) Whether the breach has affected integrity of the entire exam process; (3) Whether it's possible to segregate beneficiaries of fraud from untainted students.

"Assuming that we are not cancelling the exam, how do we identify the tainted candidates," the top court asked the Centre. 

In a situation where breach affects the entirety of the process and it's not possible to segregate beneficiaries from others, it may be necessary to order re-examination. 

"Where the breach is confined to specific centres and it's possible to identify beneficiaries of wrongdoing, it may not be proper to order re-test in such an exam, which has been conducted on a massive scale," the bench said.

The top court said that they have to see if a mechanism can be developed to identify red flags in candidates using data analytics. The court further said that the time gap between the paper-leak and examination will be decisive in whether there will be a Re-examination or not. The court also said that if it is proven that the modality of the paper leak was through a social media platform like Telegram and was on a large scale, then also a case would be made for a re-examination.

The petitioners however contended that the NTA should also be investigated. On Feb 9, 2024, the NTA issued an online application form for admission to NEET-UG 2024. The exams were held on May 5. Results were declared on June 4, 2024. The petitioners have also asked why the NTA released results on June 4 (Lok Sabha election results date) when the due date was June 14.

Supreme Court Directions To NTA:

The top court directed the NTA to clarify on the basis of information available as on date:

(1) When the leak of question papers took place.

(2) The modality of the paper leak and how the papers were leaked/disseminated.

(3) Time duration between paper leak and actual conduct of examination.

It further asked NTA to show steps taken by NTA to identify centres/cities where paper leak took place and the modalities followed for identifying the accused. And the number of students who have so far been identified to be beneficiaries of the fraud.

The top court said that a view on merits would have to be deferred until further facts are placed on record before this court. Next hearing will be on Thursday.