NEET hearing: ‘There are 23 lakh students, we must be careful on NEET retest’: Supreme Court

NEET hearing: The Supreme Court on Monday began hearings on more than 30 petitions concerning the controversial NEET-UG 2024 medical entrance exam. The petitions include allegations of irregularities and malpractices associated with the May 5 exam and request the apex court to direct the National Testing Agency (NTA) to conduct a new examination.

A Bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, alongside Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, is also addressing a separate plea from over 50 successful NEET-UG candidates from Gujarat. This petition seeks to prevent the Centre and the NTA from cancelling the results of the exam.

Hearing the pleas, the Supreme Court, however, confirmed that a question paper leak occurred, but stated that “it is focused on determining the extent and impact of the breach”. “While exam  leak is an established fact, the crucial question is the scope of its influence on the NEET exam,” said the apex court.

The Bench, comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justices JB Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra, said the decision to cancel the entire exam could not be based on the actions of just two students involved in malpractice. “One thing is clear: there was a leak of the question paper,” Chief Justice Chandrachud stated. “The nature and extent of this leak are what we need to assess. We must be mindful of the fact that we are dealing with 23 lakh students.”

The apexCourt has requested detailed information from the Centre and the National Testing Agency (NTA) on several key issues. Specifically, the court asked for a comprehensive report on the actions taken to identify which students benefited from the leak and to detail how many students’ results have been withheld as a result of the malpractice. “What measures have the Centre and NTA implemented to track down the beneficiaries of the leak? What is the geographical distribution of these students, and have we been able to pinpoint the wrongdoers?” the Supreme Court asked.

Additionally, the court proposed the formation of a multidisciplinary committee of experts from across the nation to address the situation. “We are dealing with a critical examination for medical and engineering aspirants, and it is important to explore how we can identify the beneficiaries of the leak while allowing the counseling process to proceed,” Chief Justice Chandrachud remarked. “If we do not cancel the exam, we need to understand what has been done so far and how we can move forward with the counseling process,” the court said.