GUWAHATI: The Supreme Court on Thursday, June 19, reaffirmed that the NEET-UG 2024 counselling process will proceed as planned despite ongoing legal challenges alleging irregularities in the exam. The vacation bench, consisting of Justices Vikram Nath and SVN Bhatti, emphasised, "We are not staying the counselling," while hearing multiple petitions related to the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for undergraduate medical admissions.
As the bench addressed concerns regarding potential paper leaks and discrepancies in the conduct and evaluation of the NEET-UG exam, it clarified that the admission process would continue but remain subject to the final resolution of the pending petitions. Nath noted that if the petitioners eventually succeed, the entire examination and counselling process could be nullified.
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He remarked, "Ultimately if you succeed, then everything will go. If the examination goes, the counselling will also go."
During the hearing, counsel for the petitioners raised several issues, including the unprecedented number of candidates scoring perfect marks. One lawyer highlighted that 67 students achieved the full score of 720, suggesting the need for scrutiny of the academic backgrounds of those scoring above 680.
Additionally, concerns were raised about candidates in a Meghalaya testing centre losing significant time during the exam due to technical issues, and the validity of some Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) was also questioned. The Court also addressed a specific petition challenging the NTA's decision to offer a re-test to 1,563 candidates who were previously granted grace marks.
These candidates were initially awarded grace marks due to disruptions during the exam. However, the NTA later revoked these marks following a review by a committee, which recommended restricting compensation to only the unattempted questions affected by the disruptions.
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Consequently, the NTA offered these candidates the choice to accept their original scores without the grace marks or to sit for a re-test. The petitioners argued that offering a re-test was against established rules and could be seen as creating a fait accompli.
Despite these arguments, the Supreme Court refused to halt the re-test, allowing it to proceed as scheduled on June 23. The Court has set the next hearing for July 8, when it will further examine the connected issues and the overall conduct of the NEET-UG 2024 exam.
Advocate Sameer Sodhi, representing Unacademy, underscored the necessity for an independent committee to investigate the alleged discrepancies. He argued that the current committees under the NTA, including the Grievance Redressal Committee and the High Powered Committee (HPC), may not be impartial since the HPC is chaired by the head of the NTA.
The Court agreed to issue a notice on this petition as well. The petitions, including those seeking the cancellation of the NEET-UG 2024 exam and a call for a re-examination, will be revisited on July 8.
