Breaking| No Systemic Breach Of Sanctity Of Exam, Leak Limited To Patna And Hazaribagh: Apex Court Pronounces Judgment In NEET-UG 2024

The Supreme Court, today, pronounced the judgment in the petitions alleging malpractices and paper leaks in the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test-Under Graduate Exam, 2024 (NEET-UG, 2024) holding that there was no systemic breach of the sanctity of the exam and the leak was only limited to Patna and Hazaribagh.

On July 23, 2024, the Court refused to cancel the NEET-UG, 2024 and said that cancellation would not be justified. The Bench, after a long hearing, observed that there is the absence of material on record to lead to the conclusion that the result of the exam is vitiated or that there is a systemic breach of the sanctity of the exam.

The Bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra ordered, "The Principle issue which the court was concerned with in this case is whether the sanctity of the NEET was compromised this year and whether the process should be scrapped and a fresh test should be convened. Having answered the question in above terms that is in a negative that it has not affected the entire country, it needs to be clarified that any students having individual grievances it would be open to them to pursue their rights and remedies in accordance with law...We have come to the conclusion that there was no systemic breach of the sanctity of exam, on the basis of material before us at this stage and the leak was only limited to Patna and Hazaribagh."

The Court clarified that the petitioners would have the liberty to move to the High Court for their specific grievances.

The Court directed the the Union Government and National Testing Agency to constitute a committee i.e. 1) Evaluation Committee 2) Standing Operating Procedure 3) Review the process of allotting exam centres 4) Processes for enhanced identity checks 5) CCTV Monitoring 6) Secure logistics providers and 7) Grievance redressal mechanism.

The Court, inter alia, directed to evaluate and recommend reforms in the mechanism of administration of the exam, formulate a standing standard operating procedure which will set out the timelines for registration, changes to preferred cities, and the sealing of OMR sheets; and to maintain checks and balances at every stage from setting the question papers to declaring the final result.

On July 22, 2024, the Court had asked IIT, Delhi to constitute an expert/committee to evaluate the correct answer to the question for which the National Testing Agency has changed the answer according to old NCERT Books. 

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.

On July 21, 2024, the National Testing Agency ('NTA') filed an additional affidavit addressing the issue in respect of Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, orally raised by the Petitioners during the last date of hearing.

Previously, the Court had directed the NTA to publish the marks obtained by students along with their examination centres in the NEET-UG, 2024 before Friday i.e. July 19, 2024, while at the same time ensuring the identity of the students is masked. The NTA published all the data as directed by the Court on the portal on Friday.

The NTA had filed written submissions in reply to the note of the Petitioners/Applicants circulated by the Nodal Cousnel stating the list of dates of events and replying to the contentions.

The Centre had also 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.

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 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. 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 has also heard 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. 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, 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.

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

Click here to read/download Judgment