Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 23: The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected petitions seeking cancellation of the contentious National Eligibility cum Entrance Test – Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2024 and taking re-test for all the aspirants saying that the evidence on record did not indicate a systemic leak of the question paper which could disrupt the sanctity of the exam.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud observed that a re-examination would adversely affect the lives of close to 24 lakh students who appeared in this exam and disrupt the admission schedule have cascading effects on the course of medical and hinder the availability of qualified medical professionals in the future, the CJI said.
“Government said a fresh test would have serious consequences on 23 lakh students, including disruption of the admission schedule of the medical courses, cascading effects on the course of medical education, prejudicial impact on the availability of qualified medical professionals in future, serious disadvantage to marginalised students. For the above reasons, we are of the considered view that ordering the cancellation of the entire NEET 2024 is not justified on the basis of the material on record,” the order said.
The court admitted the fact the question paper was leaked is “not in dispute”, but said there is no material on record at this time to conclude “the result of the exam was vitiated or (that) there was a systemic breach in the sanctity of the exam.” “Data produced on record is not indicative of a systemic leak of the question paper, which would lead to the destruction of the sanctity of the exam…” the court said.
Earlier in the proceedings, an expert panel of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi informed the top court that the fourth option of a disputed physics question in the exam was the correct answer while option 2 was incorrect. The CJI concluded that the court would accept the opinion shared by IIT Delhi regarding Physics question number 19. This would mean that around 4.22 lakh students who had given option two as the answer and was earlier granted full marks, might now stand to lose four marks. This is likely to impact the total marks of over four lakh candidates, including 44 students who had scored perfect 720 out of 720 marks in the May 5 exam.
For the 861 students who had appeared in the re-test of the 1,563 students who had been granted grace marks, the court left it on the National Testing Agency (NTA) which had conducted the examination, to decide which of the results would be accepted. It directed petitioners with individual grievances to approach the high courts.
The bench said a re-test for 23.33 lakh aspiring medical professionals, many of whom would travel hundreds of kilometres from hometowns to exam centres – would have “big consequences.”
“The court is mindful of the fact that directing a fresh exam would have serious consequences on students, including destruction of admission schedule, effects on course of education, and impact on availability of medical professionals in the future.” The court also pointed to a “serious disadvantage to marginalised students.”
Delivering the order, the Chief Justice referred to an interim ruling this month, in which the court advised petitioners seeking a re-test that it would be the “last option.” The court said then certain circumstances – specifically a limited time lag between the leak and exam – would argue against a re-test. “If students were asked to memorise (leaked questions) on the morning of the exam, leak might not be widespread…”
The court also observed, “Absence of material on record at the present stage, the data produced city-wise, centre-wise, and comparison of years of 2022, 2023, and 2024 do not indicate a systemic leak of question paper which indicates destruction of the sanctity of the exam. In arriving at the ultimate conclusion, the court is guided by the well-settled test of whether it is possible to segregate the wrongdoers from the innocents among students. If the probe reveals, the involvement of an increased number of beneficiaries. In future, action shall be pursued against students found to have done wrong notwithstanding the counselling process. Students will be banned from participating in the admission process”, the order stated.
However, the court then did also suggest the exam’s “sanctity” had been affected. “One thing is clear… questions were leaked. Sanctity of exam was compromised…” it said. On Tuesday too, the Chief Justice acknowledged an incontrovertible fact – the question paper had been leaked for at least two exam centres, in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh and Patna in Bihar.
The Hazaribagh leak has been flagged as ‘Ground Zero’ by the CBI, which has been tasked with investigating a nation-wide ‘solver gang’ racket that leaks question papers. The court also referred to reports filed by the CBI – on July 17 and July 21 – to say that at least 155 students from centres in Hazaribagh and Patna seemed to be beneficiaries.
The court in its order said, “In this batch of cases, the central issue being raised before this court is that a direction be issued for convening a retest on the ground that 1) The leak was of the question paper and 2) That there were systemic deficiencies in the conduct of the exam. At this stage, the court has independently scrutinised the data placed on record by the National Testing Agency. 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.
“The fact that the leak of NEET UG 2024 paper took place at (Jharkhand’s) Hazaribagh and in Patna is not in dispute… 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.
The court realises that directing a fresh NEET UG for the present year would be replete with serious consequences for over 24 lakh students who appeared in this exam. It will cause disruption of the admission schedule and have cascading effects on the course of medical education. It could also impact the availability of qualified medical professionals in the future and could be seriously disadvantageous for the marginalised group for whom reservation was made in allocation of seats.
“Thus we are of the view that ordering cancellation of the entire exam is not justified on application of settled principles propounded by this court on the basis of material on record.
The court said tainted students could be differentiated from the untainted students and after the CBI probe, if it was found that there was an increased number of beneficiaries, action must be taken against any such student at any stage even if it was the counselling process. “No student who is revealed to have been in this fraud or a beneficiary would be entitled to claim any vested right in continuance of admission,” the CJI noted.
The court stated that the seven-member expert committee formed by the union government would have to abide by the further directions as may be issued by SC to ensure that the process of conducting the medical entrance exam was “duly strengthened so that issues cited now do not arise in future. The transfer pleas by NTA stand disposed off,” the CJI said.
Earlier, the NTA faced tough questions from the top court on the distribution of wrong question papers in eight centres and later the award of grace marks for this reason to students. The petitioners on the other hand were asked if they had any contemporary evidence to show the question paper leaks were widespread and not localised.
