No doubt NEET PAPER LEAK took place, Sanctity Was Compromised: Supreme Court
New Delhi: While considering the pleas seeking cancellation of the National Eligibility-and-Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2024 examination, the Supreme Court on Monday said that undoubtedly the NEET paper leak took place and the sanctity of the exam was compromised.
However, observing that cancelling the entire exam might affect 24 lakh students who appeared in the exam, the Apex Court bench comprising the CJI has asked the National Testing Agency and the Union Government to identify the red flags and to find out whether the paper leak took place at a systemic level and if the beneficiaries or the likely beneficiaries of the paper leak could be identified.
In this regard, the Apex Court bench hinted at the possibility of holding a 'limited retest' for those who were beneficiaries of the paper leak. Further, the Apex Court also sought to know from the NTA and the Govt about the actions taken to identify the beneficiaries of the paper leak.
Apart from this, the Apex Court bench has also asked the Central Bureau of Investigation, which is currently probing the allegations of the paper leak in the undergraduate medical entrance exam, to file a status report by Wednesday.
The court also advised the Government to set up a multi-disciplinary committee to ensure measures to put a stop to any paper leak instances in the future. In case, such a committee has already been created, the Apex Court bench sought to know the details of the same.
The matter has been listed for further hearing on Thursday i.e.11th July 2024. Meanwhile, the bench has asked all the counsels for the petitioners to submit a consolidated document not exceeding 10 pages.
NEET Controversy:
This year's NEET UG 2024 exam was mired in controversies after a paper leak scam came to light. Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that around 13 people, including four examinees and their family members, were arrested in Bihar for their alleged involvement in the paper leak of the NEET-UG exam. Patna police sources had previously claimed that the NEET-UG question papers along with their answers were provided to around 20 aspirants a day before the date of the exam i.e. May 5, 2024.
Then, the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of Bihar Police, which took over the investigation, revealed that the brokers involved in the NEET paper leak scam took between Rs 30 lakh to Rs 50 lakh from each of the medical aspirants in exchange for giving them the question paper of the NEET UG 2024 question paper ahead of the examination.
Multiple pleas have been filed before the High Courts and the Supreme Court seeking an investigation into the alleged paper leak scam. Some of the pleas demanded the scrapping of the NEET UG 2024 exam and holding a retest.
Meanwhile, during the case proceedings, NTA earlier decided to withdraw the grace marks awarded to 1563 candidates and hold an optional retest for those candidates. Those who did not opt for the retest were allowed to retain their original marks, without the grace marks.
The matter is now being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Central Government on June 22, 2024, handed over the charge of investigating in the alleged irregularities in the NEET UG 2024 examination to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Earlier, while considering the NEET-related pleas, the Supreme Court had refused to defer the counselling/seat allotment process scheduled to commence on July 6. However, the bench had orally observed that the admissions would be subject to the final outcome of the petitions and if the exams were set aside, the counselling would get invalidated consequentially.
The Top Court had also expressed its concern over the alleged discrepancies in the NEET UG 2024 exam. The Court had noted that even '0.001& negligence' in conducting the NEET-UG 2024 exams would be looked into with all seriousness considering the immense labor put in by the candidates for the prestigious examination.
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