Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi: The Supreme Court declared that a re-test for the 2024 NEET-UG, the entrance exam for undergraduate medical courses, will only be conducted if the integrity of the May 5 test was “lost on a large scale” due to leaked questions. This decision came as the court reviewed over 40 petitions requesting a re-test.
This stance mirrors last week’s observations, where the court questioned the “sanctity” of the exam and demanded explanations from authorities.
The court also addressed petitions from the National Testing Agency (NTA), the central body overseeing competitive exams, which sought to transfer cases filed by various state police forces to their respective High Courts to avoid redundancy and confusion.
Chief Justice DY Chandrachud emphasized the urgency of resolving this issue, acknowledging that countless students await the court’s decision. “We will give priority to the NEET matter because of social ramifications,” he stated.
The session’s first significant moment involved a petitioner’s plea to invalidate the exam results, claiming the leaked paper may have compromised scores. The Chief Justice responded firmly, demanding evidence that the leak systematically affected the entire examination to justify canceling the test. He also asked for guidance on how the investigation should proceed.
The court noted the impracticality of identifying and isolating the numerous students who might have accessed questions beforehand. The NTA reported that among the petitioners, 131 out of the 1.08 lakh students selected for private college admissions want a re-test, while 254 oppose it.
Data analysis was a contentious issue, with senior advocate Narender Hooda, representing the petitioners, arguing that he lacked results necessary for data analytics. He also mentioned a possible conflict of interest involving the NTA’s governing body. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the NTA, refuted this claim, clarifying the governing body’s non-involvement in exam conduct.
Mr. Hooda further argued the difficulty of detecting variances in a large data set of nearly 24 lakh students. The NTA, referencing a written submission by IIT Madras, claimed that the mark distribution followed a normal bell curve, indicating no abnormalities. However, Hooda countered that the analysis should focus on the 1.08 lakh students who passed.
The 2024 NEET-UG exam, attended by nearly 24 lakh students, faced controversy last month over allegations of a leaked question paper, purportedly orchestrated by a national ‘solver gang’ network. Concerns were raised due to an unprecedented number of perfect scores and the awarding of ‘grace marks’ to 1,563 students, which was not standard protocol.
However, a recent government affidavit, citing IIT Madras’ analysis, found no evidence of “mass malpractice” or localized cheating leading to abnormally high scores.
