NEET-UG 2024| Coaching Centre Playing Role Of Bagpiper: SC Remarks While Issuing Notice In Plea For Providing OMR Sheets

The Supreme Court, today, issued notice in a petition filed by coaching centre Xylem Learning in the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test-Under Graduate Exam, 2024 (NEET-UG, 2024) matter alleging the failure of providing OMR sheets to the candidates and inconsistencies in the marks calculated by them.

Several petitions have been filed against the NEET-UG, 2024 exam alleging several malpractices and paper leaks. The issue will be dealt with by the Supreme Court on July 8, 2024, as all the matters have been tagged together seeking a reply from the National Testing Agency ('NTA').

The Vacation Bench of Justice Manoj Misra and Justice SVN Bhatti issued notice and tagged the matter with other connected matters listed on July 8, 2024.

Senior Advocate R Basant appeared for the coaching centre and submitted, "Several individual students have grievances. OMR sheets were supposed to be granted to them but that has not been done. Some of the OMR Sheets calculations are inconsistent with the calculations done with the Answer key."

Justice Misra said, "This is an Article 32 Petition at the instance of a coaching centre. How your fundamental rights have been violated to file a 32 petition?"

Basant replied, "Two, three, four and five (Petitioners) are students themselves."

Justice Bhatti remarked, "This is one of the reasons where...we see the role being played by this coaching centre 'Bagpipers'. They have hardly any role to play Mr. Basant. Their obligation and duty…if they have discharged their service that is the end of the matter. They have not further undertaken to see that everything that Centre is supposed to do it will be taken care of by the coaching centres."

Advocate Vardhman Kaushik, Counsel for the NTA, submitted that they have already provided the OMR Sheets to the candidates.

"Is there any time limit fixed for raising the grievance?", Justice Misra asked.

Basant replied, "No such procedure."

Justice Misra said, "Normally in such matters if OMR sheets are uploaded and if there is any grievance, then there is a time limit."

Kaushik said, "I will check it up."

Previously, the Court had issued notice in petitions also filed by Alakh Pandey alias Physics Wallah and another one by Abdullah Faiz challenging the NEET-UG 2024 exam's alleged paper leak and seeking directions from the Court. On the same day the Court had also allowed the recommendations by the Union of India and NTA, to conduct a re-examination for the 1563 candidates who were given compensatory marks in the NEET-UG, 2024.

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

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

Cause Title: Xylem Learning and Ors. v National Testing Agency (W.P.(C) No. 389/2024)