Supreme Court says NEET-UG has been “undoubtedly prejudiced”

The NEET-UG exam has been attracting much attention ever since the results were announced.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday held a probe into the NEET-UG examination and reports of massive irregularities and question paper leak and directed the National Testing Agency (NTA) to inform it about steps taken to identify candidates who benefited from the question paper leak. The apex court said there is no doubt that the NEET-UG examination held on May 5 was affected by the question paper leak.

The NEET-UG exam has become a focus of controversy since the announcement of its results.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra has directed the National Testing Agency (NTA) to report on the steps taken to identify centres and cities affected by the document leak. They also asked about the method used to identify those who benefited from the leak and how the leak was spread.

The panel admitted that there was indeed leakage of question papers in the NEET-UG examination and pointed out that it needs to be ascertained whether the extent of the leakage was widespread or limited to that before deciding whether a re-examination is necessary.

“The sanctity of the examination has been compromised, there is no doubt about that. We accept that there was a leak in the examination and we are in the process of ascertaining the nature of the leak. If the leak was not serious, the examination would not have been cancelled. But before ordering re-examination, we must realise the extent of the leak as we have the problem of 23 lakh students to deal with,” the bench said.

“So what was the nature of the leak, how did it happen, when did it happen, how did it spread, what action did the central government and the state tourism board take to identify the students who benefited from the wrongdoing?” asked Chief Justice Chandrachud. The court also said that if the leak happened on social media, then the scope of the leak would be very wide.

The apex court asked the National Testing Agency (NTA) about when the question paper leak first took place, how the leaked question paper was circulated and the time gap between the leak and the examination on May 5. Besides, the apex court also sought a status report from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the progress of the investigation into the alleged question paper leak and the evidence found so far.

The top court said it has to be carefully examined whether the alleged irregularities took place at a systemic level, whether the irregularities affected the integrity of the entire examination process and whether it was possible to distinguish the beneficiaries of the fraud from the untainted students.

If the irregularities affect the entire process and the beneficiaries cannot be isolated from others, retesting may be necessary. However, if the irregularities are limited to certain centers and the beneficiaries of the misconduct can be identified, it may not be appropriate to force retesting of exams conducted on a large scale.

The apex court has directed the CBI to file a status report and directed the central government and the state tourism board to file affidavits containing all the details by 5 pm on July 10. The case is scheduled for next hearing on July 11.

(with ANI input)