In a new twist to the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for Undergraduate (NEET-UG) irregularities cases which will be heard today, Monday, July 22, ahead of the hearing, the National Testing Agency (NTA) dismissed the allegation of the petitioners with regards to the conflict of interest from the side of Director of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras Prof V Kamakoti who prepared the data analysis report. This it did by submitting an additional affidavit in the Supreme Court.
It may be recalled that in the last hearing held on Thursday, July 18, this conflict of interest had emerged as a major factor in the hearing on NEET UG paper leaks, malpractices and so on.
Also, it may be recalled that the Centre had engaged IIT Madras to carry our exam analysis and the institute's report had established that there was no mass malpractice.
What happened today?
The test conducting body stated that the director of the IIT conducting the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) (Advanced) in a particular year is the ex-officio member of the Governing Body of NTA and IIT Madras holds the JEE (Advanced) for 2024, stated a tweet by LiveLaw on social media platform X.
But the core functions are taken care of by the Managing Committee of the NTA and the Governing Body has a role only on policy matters.
Also, the director of IIT Madras appointed another member to be a part of Governing Body meetings and the nominee attended the last meeting in December 2023. Also, after December 2022, the IIT director who came up with the report hasn't been part of any meeting of NTA's General Body, stated the LiveLaw tweet.
