The Supreme Court has demanded a response from the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the Centre following claims that the NEET-UG 2024 exam was compromised by a paper leak and irregularities. Despite these allegations, the Court has decided not to halt the ongoing counselling process and will review the matter on July 8, along with a related petition concerning discrepancies in the exam conducted on May 5.
“The sanctity of the examination has been affected. We need answers for that,” stated the bench led by Justice Vikram Nath, with Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah also presiding.
The petition, brought by 10 candidates among the 2.4 million who took the NEET-UG exam across 4,750 centres in 571 cities, including overseas, seeks a re-examination due to the alleged paper leak. Advocate Mathews J Nedunmpara, representing the petitioners, emphasized the severity of the issue, citing an ongoing investigation by the Bihar police.
Although the petitioners requested an interim order to pause counselling, the bench refused, allowing the counselling to continue. Senior advocate Naresh Kaushik, representing the NTA, highlighted a previous Supreme Court order on a similar petition filed by Vanishika Yadav. The current petition will be consolidated with this ongoing case.
In addition, several other petitions challenging various aspects of the NEET-UG exam, including the marking scheme and compensatory policies, have been filed. Advocates J Sai Deepak and Kunal Cheema, representing these petitions, requested that their cases be combined with the current one. However, the bench noted procedural requirements for unlisted matters to be addressed by the Registry and the Chief Justice of India (CJI).
Filed on June 1, before the NEET-UG results were announced, the current petition gained traction following reports of irregularities. Allegations included distribution errors and torn OMR sheets, particularly impacting Hindi medium students in Rajasthan. A case in Patna resulted in arrests related to the paper leak.
The NTA’s policy to award grace marks to 1,563 students from affected centers further fueled controversy. After the results were declared on June 4, suspicions intensified when six candidates from a single Haryana center scored full marks. The NTA defended its marking scheme, explaining that perfect scores were due to revisions in answer keys and the awarding of grace marks.
Additional legal challenges have emerged in the Calcutta and Delhi high courts, addressing both the alleged irregularities and the NTA’s compensatory policies. Politically, opposition parties, including the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party, have criticized the handling of the NEET results, with Rahul Gandhi pledging to raise the issue in Parliament.
In response, the Ministry of Education announced on June 8 the formation of a four-member panel to review the grace marks policy, asserting that the examination’s integrity remains intact. The committee is expected to deliver its findings within a week.
