Amid the ongoing NEET controversy, a set of five candidates approached the Supreme Court against re-NEET.
To recall, the medical entrance exam National Eligibility cum Entrance exam for undergraduates (NEET-UG) ended in an altercation due to arbitrary grace marks, paper leaks, malpractices and other such acts. Concerning these irregularities, several petitions have been filed seeking the cancellation of the NEET-UG 2024 results and conducting a fresh examination.
However, according to LiveLaw, a writ petition has been filed stating that cancellation of this examination will be an “arbitrary decision” and will violate their Fundamental Rights under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India.
Therefore, the petitioners, represented through advocate Tanvi Dubey, have suggested a re-evaluation instead of conducting a re-NEET. To strengthen this, it has been submitted that revaluation can address issues such as rank inflation and a substantial increase in the number of toppers. The petition has been jointly filed by five candidates, as stated in a report by LiveLaw.
“The alleged cancellation of examination, at this stage will have serious repercussions on the candidates who have thoroughly worked hard for the examination. Therefore, Petitioners propose to suggest that in view of the rank inflation this year, which is clear from the chart below, it is advisable to have revaluation of the scores rather than having a re-neet for all the candidates,” the petition read.
Further, the petition highlighted the National Testing Agency (NTA) re-opening of the window for 24,000 candidates to register for the exam after the initial deadline. “There may be an apprehension of some tampering with respect to these 24000 newly added candidates, who registered as per notice dated 08.04.2024. Therefore, revaluation for the 24000 candidates is also paramount.,” the petition added.
The prayers, as described in the petition, are as follows: “Issue an Appropriate Writ, Order or Direction, in the nature of a Writ of Mandamus, under Article 32 of the Constitution directing NTA ((Respondent No. 1, herein) not to pass any order amounting to cancellation of NEET-UG 2024 examination; assuming such concerns regarding transparency can be addressed by revaluation of OMR sheets rather than resorting to sharp conclusions like cancellation of examination [as prayed in prayer (a)]; Issue an Appropriate Writ, Order or Direction, in the nature of a Writ of Mandamus, under Article 32 of the Constitution directing NTA to scrutinize the OMR sheets of 24,000 candidates who registered for NEET-UG 2024 while the registration window was reopened vide notice dated 08.04.2024”
