Scrapping NEET 2024 for Mischief of a Few would be Unjust: 2 Candidates File Application before Supreme Court

New Delhi: Amid the demands for scrapping the National Eligibility-and-Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2024 examination, two candidates approached the Apex Court opposing the proposal to cancel the NEET exam held on May 05, 2024, and holding a retest.

Applicants Kritika Garg and Priyanjali Garg appeared in the NEET UG 2024 and secured good marks. Hailing from Meerut, these candidates secured Rs 705 and 690 marks respectively.

Approaching the Apex Court bench, they argued that students who have prepared for years should not be put to the trouble of appearing in the exam again.

These applicants further contended that holding a retest for the NEET UG 2024 exam would not only be "unfair" to most students but would also cause hardship to their families.

Also Read: No Urgency: Supreme Court declines to Implead CBI, ED in NEET Paper Leak Case

As per the latest media report by Live Law, filing the application before the Apex Court, those two NEET candidates stressed that the NEET-UG exam is one of the toughest exams and it should not be conducted just because some allegations have been made. They submitted that they scored 705 and 690 marks only based on their hard work and merit.

The Application stated that the allegations of malpractice might involve a lesser number of students compared to the number of students who had appeared in the exam based on their hard work.

"Cancelling the entire process for lakhs of students just because of the mischief of a few people would really be unfair and torture to other students who have not participated in any such activity," it stated.

Further, it pointed out that since the issue concerning the grace marks has already been dealt with by conducting a retest for the 1563 students, the issue stands resolved. The applicants also alleged that the opposition political parties have made the matter a "political issue".

The application also argued that the coaching centres were aiming to conduct the re-examination to make profits by offering additional crash courses or test series to the interested students.

"It is no one's allegation that the students who have secured good marks have obtained them through dishonest and unfair means. Penalising students who have secured good marks through hard work and merit will cause immense trauma and stress. This should not be allowed to happen again," stated the application.

"Just because the cut off in the NEET UG exam is high, it cannot be made a ground to challenge the entire exam," it added.

Finally, the applicants also highlighted the issue of the Physics question paper having more than one answer. Referring to the issue, they submitted that this could hardly be the reason to reconduct the exam.

"The said issue has been a common problem in many competitive exams and can be resolved easily," argued the applicants adding that re-conducting the NEET-UG 2024 exam would cause hardship to the meritorious students, who scored their marks on their own.

As per Live Law, this application has been filed on the plea seeking withdrawal of the NEET-UG 2024 results and holding fresh exams for the alleged paper leaks and irregularities. The Apex Court vacation bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta issued notices in this plea on June 13.

This year's NEET UG 2024 exam was mired in controversies after a paper leak scam came to the 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.