Supreme Court Demands Full Disclosure from NTA on NEET-UG Paper Leak Allegations

On Monday, the Supreme Court sought clarification from the Centre and the National Testing Agency (NTA) regarding the actions taken against wrong beneficiaries in the NEET-UG examination held on May 5. The court remarked that denial of the allegations of a paper leak only exacerbates the problem.

Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud, heading the bench, instructed the NTA to provide a comprehensive disclosure concerning the nature and scope of the paper leak, the locations where leaks occurred, and the time lag between the leak and the examination. The bench also included Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.

Additionally, the bench requested the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to file a status report detailing the progress of their investigations and the evidence gathered. “The IO shall place the material collected during the course of investigation when the leak is alleged to have taken place and when the leaked question paper was made available,” the bench ordered.

The Supreme Court expressed the intention to use technology and legal means to identify the beneficiaries of the malpractice, thereby avoiding the need for all 23 lakh students to reappear for the exam.

The case will be revisited on July 11.

Last week, the Centre filed a preliminary affidavit opposing the cancellation of the NEET-UG exam. The Union Ministry of Education argued that scrapping the exam would unfairly impact the vast majority of honest candidates who attempted the exam on May 5. The affidavit stated: “In the absence of any proof of any large-scale breach of confidentiality in a pan-India examination, it would not be rational to scrap the entire examination and the results already declared. It is submitted that in any examination, there are competing rights that have been created whereby the interests of a large number of students who have taken the examination without adopting any alleged unfair means must not also be jeopardised.”

Regarding the alleged irregularities, including cheating and impersonation, the CBI is currently investigating and has taken over related cases from various states.

Previously, the Supreme Court addressed the issue of granting grace marks in the NEET-UG exam. After the NTA withdrew and cancelled the scorecards of 1,563 candidates who had been awarded compensatory marks due to lost time, these candidates were given the option to retake the exam or participate in counseling based on their actual scores without normalization.

The upcoming hearing on July 11 is expected to provide further clarity on the issue and determine the course of action regarding the NEET-UG examination.