NEET-UG 2024| Apex Court Directs NTA To Publish Results Masking Identity Of Candidates Before July 19; Says No Question Of Retest If Breach Is Confined To Patna And Hazaribagh

The Supreme Court, today, has directed the National Testing Agency ('NTA') to publish the marks obtained by students along with their examination centres in the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test-Under Graduate Exam, 2024 (NEET-UG, 2024) before Friday i.e. July 19, 2024, while at the same time ensuring the identity of the students is masked. 

Several petitions were filed against the NEET-UG, 2024 exam, including Alakh Pandey alias Physics Wallah, alleging several malpractices and paper leaks and seeking directions for cancellation of exams. Notice was issued in several petitions and all the matters were tagged together seeking a reply from the NTA. 

The Bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra observed, "The Petitioners have submitted that it would be appropriate that the result of NEET-UG be published by NTA on the website. We direct NTA to publish the marks obtained by students in NEET while at the same time ensuring the identity of the students is masked...The Results should be declared in relation to each centre separately. Results will be uploaded by 5 p.m. on Friday."

The Court also remarked, "Question which we are now wanting to consider is whether this was only confined to these centres (Patna and Hazaribagh) in which case there is no question of retest or whether this was more widespread."

Senior Advocate Narender Hooda made opening arguments on behalf of the Petitioners/Applicants. During the lengthy hearing and arguments, Hooda submitted that the IIT-Madras report was not made on the basis of complete data and there is a conflict of interest as the Director of IIT Madras is a Member of the NTA's Governing Body. Therefore, the report may not be relied on. He further submitted the image of the Telegram Channel which shows that the question paper was already circulated is not tampered with as alleged by the NTA. 

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared for the Union and submitted that there was no leak at large in the conduct of the NEET-UG, 2024 and only breach at Patna and Hazaribagh. He also submitted that the CBI enquiry is already in progress and steps have been taken in that regard.

Hooda submitted, "There is a combined written submission, there is one heading systemic failure. The question paper was circulated on telegram channel prior to the scheduled examination...this breach of security has raised significant concerns regarding the integrity of the fairness of the examination process."

CJI said, "See the only thing is which you have to bear in mind...the idea of somebody who was doing this was not just to make a national charade of the NEET exams. So the people who are doing it were in it for money."

Hooda replied, "They say that because this red circle is there, this image is doctored...Whenever a telegram channel document is pressed for editing, one can sweep it but the time will remain the same. The time that they are showing (May 5) is not the time of the receipt of the document but just the watermark. Time can't be changed. I have tried it myself with the help of my colleagues. On the 4th of May, the question paper is being circulated, the photograph of the question paper. Now they want this Hon'ble Court to disbelieve this date and time."

The Bench also inquired about the window which was given to the candidates to change their cities and they scrutinised the data on record. Further, the Court, thoroughly, compared the data on record stating the number of candidates who appeared in the cities, like Patna and Hazaribagh where allegedly the breach occurred and the number of candidates who cleared the cut-off in the exam. The Court also perused the numbers as regards the students who appeared in 2022, 2023 and 2024 and all those who scored marks 550 to 720 and took note of the fact that there was a 300% increase. 

After lengthy arguments, the Court adjourned the hearing, with the aforementioned directions, to Monday i.e. July 22, 2024.

Recently, the NTA has filed written submissions in reply to the note of the Petitioners/Applicants circulated by the Nodal Cousnel stating list of dates of events and replying to the contentions. The NTA has said, "It is further submitted that the table produced and relied upon by the Petitioners is factually incorrect and the graphs derived out of the same are also denied. The graphs relied upon by the Petitioners are only of specific mark intervals, i.e. 715, 710, 670, and 660 in NEET (UG) from 2020 to 2024. However, the answering respondent, being the Examination conducting body and record bearer, on analysis, has found that the increase in marks is clearly visible across most mark intervals as highlighted above, and not just between 660-715, as incorrectly portrayed by the Petitioners. Further, the Petitioners have deliberately suppressed the aspect of relative performance in the data so relied upon in the Written Submissions under reply."

It has also said, "Additionally, discussions within the Telegram channel indicate that members identified the video as fake. It appears that the timestamp was manipulated to create a false impression of an early leak. As per the Terms of Service of the Telegram, a message and/or file sent along with a message on the telegram App can be replaced with another file/edited up to 48 hours of sending the original message. The comments and discussions on social media further corroborate that the images in the video were edited, and the date was intentionally modified to suggest a May 4th leak...It is submitted that the Courts cannot take cognizance of media reports, which are unsubstantiated and misleading. Furthermore, the media reports are contradictory and falsified with the material placed by the petitioners themselves." 

The Centre has filed an additional affidavit stating that experts from IIT Madras in their analysis say that there is neither any indication of mass malpractice nor a localized set of candidates being benefitted leading to abnormal scores in the NEET-UG. The additional affidavit was filed in compliance with the directions issued on July 8, 2024, by the Supreme Court to answer several questions in the matters related to the NEET-UG, 2024 alleged paper leak and malpractices.

On the last date of the hearing, the Supreme Court had remarked that if the question paper was leaked in the NEET-UG, 2024 on social media or telegram channels, then it would be widespread, the integrity of the exam would be affected and such beneficiaries of the leak will have to be identified ruthlessly. The Court remarked that a retest may be required if the leak was widespread. The Court also directed the NTA to answer various questions put forth in the hearing of the petitions alleging the malpractices and paper leaks in theNEET-UG, 2024. The Court also directed the CBI to file the status report of the FIRs filed in the matter.

The NTA had filed a reply in the matter, stating that the candidates scoring full marks in the NEET-UG, 2024 was due to a reduction in the syllabus which was done to alleviate pressure. It also stated that the candidates involved in the alleged paper leak were very minuscule, therefore, cancelling the examination would be counterproductive.

The Union of India had also filed a reply and said that in the absence of any proof of a large-scale breach of confidentiality in the NEET-UG, 2024, it would be irrational to scrap the examination.

The Court will also hear the petitions seeking CBI and ED probe in the matter.

The Court, on June 20, 2024, had also stayed the proceedings in various petitions filed across Rajasthan, Calcutta, and Bombay High Courts.

The Court, on June 13, 2024, had allowed the recommendations by the UOI and NTA, to conduct a re-examination for the 1563 candidates who were given compensatory marks in the NEET-UG, 2024. The re-examination is likely to be held on June 25, 2024. A petition was filed by Jaripiti Kartheek under Article 32 of the Constitution raising a grievance regarding the grant of compensatory marks to 1563 candidates using a normalization formula where, at the examination centres, the candidates were given less than three hours twenty minutes to complete their exam.

On June 14, 2024, The Court had also issued notice in the petition filed by the NTA seeking a transfer of pending petitions before various High Courts alleging the malpractices in NEET-UG. The Court tagged the matter and listed it on July 8, 2024. Other transfer petitions filed by NTA were withdrawn as they were related to the grant of compensatory marks, which has already been decided by the Court on June 13, 2024.

The Allahabad High Court had also dismissed the writ petition filed by Ayushi Patel, an aspirant who appeared for the exam and had found that she produced forged and manipulated documents. The Court also observed that it cannot restrain the authorities from taking any legal action against the Petitioner in accordance with law for producing forged and fictitious documents.

Cause Title: Vanshika Yadav v. Union of India & Ors. (W.P.(C) No. 335/2024) and connected matters.