The Supreme Court of India will hear petitions about the controversy surrounding the medical entrance exam NEET-UG 2024, which was held on May 5. A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra would hear more than 40 pleas today.
These pleas include cancelling the exam, re-testing, and probing alleged malpractices in the conduct of NEET-UG 2024 and transferring cases pending against the National Testing Agency (NTA) in various high courts on the NEET row.
CJI DY Chandrachud on July 8 mentioned that mandating a retest for nearly 23 lakh students would be considered a last resort while emphasising that many candidates come from low-income families and cannot bear the extra travel expenses unless unavoidable.
Now the question arises: Will the Supreme Court order a retest today? During the last hearing, the top court stressed the necessity of a comprehensive investigation and a detailed report before making a final ruling. On the same day, the apex court specified the criteria to determine whether a retest is required.
These criteria include whether the alleged breach was systemic in nature, whether it compromised the integrity of the examination process, and whether it is feasible to separate those who benefited from the fraud from the unaffected students.
The court can order a retest today if the breach is extensive and it is impossible to differentiate between compromised and uncompromised candidates.
The Centre and the NTA had earlier argued that cancelling the exam would be "counterproductive" and would "seriously jeopardize" the futures of many honest candidates, especially given the lack of evidence for any significant breach of confidentiality.
More than 23.33 lakh students had taken the test on May 5 at 4,750 centres in 571 cities, including in 14 cities overseas. NTA administers the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH, and other related courses in government and private institutions throughout India.
(With inputs from agencies)
