NEET-UG 2024: SC resumes hearing on exam irregularities post lunch; here are key highlights

After lunchtime, the Supreme Court resumed hearing the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test - Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2024 petitions today, Saturday, July 22, as it examined allegations of irregularities in the results. The bench, led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, heard various concerns post-lunch, including paper leaks, malpractices, and mismanagement involving 67 top rankers and seven toppers from a single centre.

As the court resumed hearing, several key points were presented. Here are the key highlights as the counsel for the National Testing Agency (NTA), Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, senior advocate Narender Hooda and others, made their arguments, as stated in tweets and reports from LiveLaw:

1. Re-NEET: Petitioner's advocate Narender Hooda suggested that if the court did not consider re-conducting NEET-UG, at least the qualified candidates, numbering about 13 lakh, should re-take the exam, reported LiveLaw. 

   Counsel also referred to the Tanvi Sarval case, during which, the court had ordered the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to conduct a re-examination of the All India Pre Medical Test (AIPMT) for around six lakh students after 44 were found using unfair means.

2. Paper leak industry: Advocate Mathews J Nedumpara, representing another batch of petitioners, highlighted the significant scale of the paper leak industry, estimating it to be worth Rs 2,500 crore. 

3. “As many as 50,000 government medical seats are there. The capitation fee is anything between Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore. Leak has been happening for many many years, 2013, 2014, 2016. Stations in Haryana which were spoken about were involved then too," Nedumpara said. 

4. The ambitious question: Lawyers representing a petitioner who scored 711 marks challenged a question with ‘ambiguous options’, arguing for its deletion. The petitioner had skipped the question, while the NTA awarded full marks to those who chose either of the two ‘correct’ options. The counsel argued, "I cannot assume there are two correct answers and marks will be awarded for both. I have done extremely well except for this question. I am in rank 311 currently. If I am given four marks for this question, I will move up."

   In response, Chief Justice DY Chandrachud stated, "It is not possible to have two answers to a question. The instructions are to go by the latest NCERT edition. Option 4 is the correct answer as per the latest NCERT edition. Those who answered option 2 cannot be given full marks."

5. IIT Delhi committee: The court decided to seek an expert opinion from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi to resolve the issue regarding the correct answer to the disputed question. The Director of IIT Delhi was requested to form a team of three experts to provide their opinion by 12 noon tomorrow, Tuesday, July 23.

The Supreme Court will resume the hearing tomorrow, 23 July.