Amid an ongoing row and political slugfest, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled out the cancellation and retest of NEET-UG 24 exam.
A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra heard arguments on multiple pleas related to the NEET examination and seeking a re-test on grounds of question paper leak and other malpractices.
The court said that ordering cancellation of the entire NEET-UG exam is not justified on application of settled principles propounded by it.
1) The fact that the leak in NEET-UG 2024 took place at Hazaribagh and Patna is not in dispute.
2) At this stage, the court has independently scrutinised the data placed on record by NTA. There is absence of material on record to lead to the conclusion that the result of the exam is vitiated or that there is a systemic breach of the sanctity of the exam.
3) Data on record is not indicative of a systemic leak of the question paper which would indicate a disruption of the sanctity of the exam, reported Bar and Bench quoting CJI.
4) The Court is guided by the well-settled test of the possibility of segregating the tainted from untainted. Moreover, it is important to clarify that if the investigation reveals the involvement of an increased number of beneficiaries, action will be taken against them, Live Law quoted CJI as saying.
5) If the probe reveals an increased number of beneficiaries, then action shall be taken against any such student at any stage not withstanding the completion of the counselling process, said the court.
6) The CJI said that it realises that directing a fresh NEET-UG for the present year would be replete with serious consequences, which will be for over 24 lakh students who appeared in this exam.
7) The court said that NTA had conducted a special test for 1,563 candidates, and they were given the option to either appear for re-test or forego grace marks and NTA is directed to act accordingly.
8) It will be important to clarify that if any student has an individual grievance not bearing on the issues resolved in this judgement, it will be open to them to pursue their rights and remedies in accordance with law, reported Live Law quoting CJI.
9) The court also said that to approach HC they must withdraw their petitions pending before this court.
10) On the issue of two correct options for the physics question, the apex court said that the experts panel clearly opined there was only one correct option, which is option four. Accepting the IIT Delhi report, CJI said that accordingly, NTA shall revise the result of the NEET UG 2024 on the basis of the option 4 as extracted above is the only correct option.
