SC has directed NTA to be more transparent, says Advocate Tanvi Dubey who represented NEET UG AIR 1

"...NTA must now avoid flip flops which it has made in this case. These flip-flops in the NTA does not serve the interest of the students," said the Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud while disclosing reasons as to why the Supreme Court ruled against conducting the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) again.

Speaking about the highlight of this detailed judgement announced today, August 2, Tanvi Dubey, Advocate, Supreme Court, said, "The bench directs the National Testing Agency (NTA) to be more transparent and ensure security."

Dubey was representing an All-India Rank One candidate, challenging a question whose answer differed in the old and new NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training) books.

AIR 1 Umayma Malbari, who scored a perfect 720, was worried that a re-correction would bring change in the ranks; hence, she approached the apex court through Dubey.

This petition was one of the other petitions that were filed and heard. Dubey argued and was present in the apex court during the crucial hearings including on the verdict day, July 23, 2024.

Further, she remarked that the CJI said that this attitude of NTA will not be acceptable as it conducts national-level exams.

To recall, NEET UG was marred by irregularities such as paper leaks, malpractices, grace marks and others. Owing to this, several candidates urged for a re-test while others opposed it.

Speaking about her arguments in the apex court, advocate Tanvi Dubey made several points about no cancellation, the timeline of the exam and the marking scheme.

"A writ petition by those who didn't favour the cancellation of the examination was taken up as candidates from marginalised sections would suffer from financial and travel constraints. Additionally, repeating the whole five-month process of the exam will be aggressive on students as it will be difficult for them to prepare for the exam again," Dubey remarked.

Further, she also said that candidates have been preparing for the exam for years and few might have taken a long-term or one-year break for exam preparation. So a re-test would have a severe impact on such candidates.

Another argument made was regarding the syllabus in old NCERT and new NCERT books. "As the information bulletin mentioned both books, there was ambiguity among the candidates about which one was right because few answers were different in both books," she told EdexLive.