GUWAHATI: The Supreme Court of India has issued a notice to the central government and the National Testing Agency (NTA) in response to a petition calling for the cancellation of this year's National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEET) for undergraduate medical courses, due to allegations of a paper leak.
A vacation bench consisting of Justices Vikram Nath and Ahsanuddin Amanullah heard the plea on Tuesday, June 11. The petition, filed by Shivangi Mishra and nine others, argues that the integrity of the NEET exam held on May 5 was compromised, and seeks a directive for the NTA to conduct the exam again.
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During the hearing, Amanullah emphasised the seriousness of the allegations, noting, “It is not that simple that because you have done it, it is sacrosanct. Sanctity has been affected, so we need answers.” This was directed towards the counsel representing the NTA, who was instructed to provide a response by July 8.
Amanullah also highlighted the urgency of the situation due to the impending start of the counselling process for medical admissions, indicating that the issue needed to be addressed promptly.The NTA's counsel suggested tagging this petition with a similar one previously brought before the Supreme Court.
This earlier petition, which also questions the integrity of the NEET exam, had been filed on May 17 and is scheduled for hearing on July 8. The court agreed to this request and scheduled both matters to be heard together on that date.
Advocate Mathews J Nedumpara, representing the petitioners, requested the court to stay the counselling process until the matter is resolved. However, the bench, led by Justice Nath, declined to halt the counseling, stating, “Let the counseling start, we are not stopping the counseling.”
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The petition filed by Shivangi Mishra and others on June 1, before the announcement of the NEET results, alleges that the exam's integrity was compromised by a leak. This has raised significant doubts about the fairness and validity of the test. The petitioners are seeking a re-examination.
Meanwhile, another few petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court over the NTA's decision to award grace marks to several candidates in the NEET-UG 2024 examination.
These petitions, filed by Alakh Pandey, the CEO of Physics Wallah, will be heard on Wednesday. Pandey collected signatures from about 20,000 students, which show that at least 1,500 students have been randomly awarded 70 to 80 grace marks.
On May 17, in response to a separate but related petition, the Supreme Court had refused to stay the announcement of the NEET-UG results. The bench, led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, issued a notice on that petition but ruled that halting the results of a nationwide examination would not be appropriate at that stage.
