Supreme Court closes NEET paper leak case, Govt to implement panel suggestions

New Delhi: After the Centre assured of implementing exam reforms suggested by the expert panel, the Supreme Court closed a matter over the functioning of the National Testing Agency (NTA) in holding last year's NEET UG 2024.

According to PTI report, a bench comprising Justices P S Narasimha and Joymalya Bagchi took note of the Centre's compliance reports on the issue and the submissions of its solicitor general Tushar Mehta as it disposed of the plea.

Mehta said the Centre had accepted all the suggestions of the seven-member panel, except one--NTA conducting online NEET exams--for the time being.

"Over 26 lakh students take up NEET across India and the government will have to ascertain availability of internet and computers... this will take some time," he said, "but the report (of the expert panel) has been accepted".

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Nothing survived in the case and it can be disposed of, Mehta added.

The bench noted the submissions and the developments, saying no further order was required.

The top court on August 2, last year, refused to annul the contentious NEET-UG of 2024, saying there was no sufficient material on record to indicate a systemic leak or malpractice compromising the integrity of the examination. Medical Dialogues had reported that pronouncing its detailed order on the pleas concerning the National Eligibility-and-Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET-UG) examination, the Supreme Court said that it did not cancel the UG medical entrance examination amid concerns of the paper leak because there was no systemic breach of its sanctity.

"...the various issues discussed until now do not lead to the conclusion that the integrity of the NEET was vitiated at a systemic level," observed the Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manij Misra.

Although the top court bench upheld the NEET UG 2024 exam, held on May 5, 2024, it also criticised the National Testing Agency (NTA), the authority in charge of conducting the NEET exam, saying that the agency must stop its flip-flops in holding the examination that was noticed this year.

"A body such as NTA which is entrusted with immense responsibility in relation to highly important competitive exams cannot afford to misstep, take an incorrect decision, and amend it at a later stage. All decisions must be well-considered, with due regard to the importance of the decision. Flipflops are an anathema to fairness," observed the bench.

"...the manner in which NTA has organised the exam this year gives rise to serious concerns. The Court is cognizant of the fact that national-level exams with participation from tens of lakhs of students require immense resources, coordination, and planning. But that is precisely the reason for the existence of a body such as NTA. It is no excuse to say that the exam is conducted in myriad centres or that a large number of aspirants appear for the exam. NTA has sufficient resources at its disposal. It has adequate funding, time, and opportunities to organise exams such as the NEET without lapses of the kind that occurred this year," it further noted.

While making these observations, the Apex Court referred to multiple occurrences in the conduct of the exam and highlighted the lapses made by NTA.

It had expanded the remit of the seven-member expert panel, headed by former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief K Radhakrishnan, to review NTA's functioning and recommend exam reforms to make the NEET-UG (National Eligibility Entrance Test Undergraduate), transparent and free from malpractices.

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