NEET UG Hearing: Key highlights from today

CJI Chandrachud, who headed the bench hearing the petitions, requested the Director of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi to form an expert panel of three and review question number 19 with two correct answers.

Responding to a petitioner who claimed that a particular question in the exam had a different correct answer in two different textbooks published by the NCERT, the Supreme Court asked that such ambiguous questions be removed from the evaluation process.

CJI Chandrachud also emphasised that the petitioners must prove their allegations of widespread paper leak through concrete data evidence

The Supreme Court further criticised the NTA for not dealing with the handling of wrong question papers in certain centres, particularly in Haryana’s Jhajjar, properly. The court further requested the NTA to provide data on the number of students affected by this, and measures taken to rectify this error.

The Supreme Court also asked those petitioners who are requesting a retest but haven’t had their petitions heard yet to email their arguments to the court master, so that the bench could consider all points before giving their verdict.

On April 9, the NTA opened a 24-hour registration window for NEET UG, which allowed 24,000 students to register for the exam after the first deadline. The petitioners argue that candidates who missed the original deadline were given an unfair advantage with this system.

More petitions on the matter would be heard by the bench tomorrow, July 23.