A new plea has been submitted to the Supreme Court, requesting that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigate alleged irregularities in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test - Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2024, which took place on May 5, reports PTI.
As per the report, the petition, filed by 10 students who were candidates in the exam, also seeks an order directing the Bihar Police to expedite their investigation and submit a report to the apex court.
"The petitioners are fully aware of the ramifications of the cancellation of the examination but there is absolutely no other alternative. The NEET UG Examination of 2024 had many other irregularities, in particular, the gross negligence on the part of the authorities to make the question papers available to the candidates on time. In some places, the wrong set of question papers was distributed and later recalled," the plea said.
Previously, the top court had requested responses from the Centre, the National Testing Agency (NTA), and other relevant parties regarding several petitions, including those calling for the cancellation of the NEET-UG 2024 exam and a court-supervised investigation, amidst growing public outrage over alleged misconduct in administering the exam, reports PTI.
The Supreme Court had also halted proceedings on similar petitions pending before various high courts but clarified that it would not pause the counselling process.
The examination, conducted on May 5 across 4,750 centres, saw the participation of approximately 2.4 million candidates. Although the results were expected on June 14, they were announced earlier on June 4, following the completion of answer sheet evaluations.
The allegations of irregularities have led to protests in several cities and sparring between rival political parties, states PTI.
Allegations of irregularities have sparked protests in several cities and have become a point of contention among political parties.
Notably, 67 students achieved a perfect score of 720, an unprecedented event in NTA's history, with six of these students from a single centre in Faridabad, Haryana, raising further suspicions. It has been alleged that grace marks contributed to the top rank being shared by 67 students.
The NEET-UG examination, conducted by the NTA, is used for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH, and other related courses in government and private institutions nationwide, reports PTI.
