New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Thursday heard a clutch of petitions seeking re-test or cancellation of the 2024 NEET-UG – for entrance to undergraduate medical courses – and raised concerns over the stand of the Centre and the National Testing Agency (NTA) — the body that conducts the nationwide exam — that the paper leak happened only about 45 minutes before the start of the exam in certain centres.

The results of the 2024 NEET-UG exam, which was held on May 5 and attended by nearly 24 lakh aspiring medical professionals, have been plagued by allegations of leaked question papers and incorrectly awarded ‘grace marks’.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who represented the NTA, submitted that as per the CBI investigation, at a particular centre in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh, a person unauthorizedly took photographs of the question papers between 8 AM and 9.20 AM on the day of the exam. The CBI has been tasked with investigating the case.

A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud wondered if all the 180 questions could have been solved within 45 minutes, given that the examination started at 10.15 AM, to which Mr Mehta replied that there were seven persons in the gang who divided the questions among themselves.

“Whole hypothesis that within 45 minutes there was a breach and the entire paper was solved and given to students seems very far-fetched,” Chief Justice Chandrachud said.

These question papers were then solved and the students, who allegedly paid the gang, were given the answers to memorize.

At the outset, the bench, also comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said it has prioritised the hearing on the petitions over other cases as these have “social ramifications” and lakhs of students are waiting for the outcome.

After the day-long arguments concluded, the next date was set as July 22.

Exam Body’s Defence In Supreme Court NEET Case

Senior advocate Narender Hooda, appearing for some of the petitioners, vehemently sought cancellation of the NEET-UG 2024 claiming “systemic failure” in holding it.

He alleged that the transportation of question papers was compromised and that they were in the custody of a private courier company for six days in Hazaribagh. Shockingly, he claimed, they were transported in an e-rickshaw to an exam centre whose principal later got arrested for alleged involvement in the racket.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, however, refused any suggestion of the NEET-UG 2024 paper leak and pointed out the CBI had investigated the chain “from printer to centre”.

“How the sealing happened… how GPS tracking happened… There is a seven-layer security system,” he told the court.

The court then asked Mr Mehta, “Mr Solicitor… did you engage a private courier company to dispatch the NEET papers?”. The Solicitor General deferred his reply to a later stage.

Questions over transportation were flagged after the CBI suggested a leak – either while the papers were being taken to centres or after they arrived at one – a school in Hazaribagh.

NEET-UG Re-Test Only If “Sanctity” Lost

During the hearing, the Supreme Court stressed it would only order a NEET-UG 2024 re-test if the “sanctity” of the May 5 exam was “lost on a large scale” as a result of leaked questions.

The remark was an echo of observations made last week, when the court said the “sanctity” of the exam had been affected and demanded answers. The top court then, however, had advised against a re-test, saying certain circumstances would argue against it.

“You have to show us that the leak was systematic… that it affected the entire examination… so as to warrant cancellation of the entire exam…” Chief Justice Chandrachud told senior advocate Narender Hooda, who appeared for the petitioners.

When Mr Hooda informed the court that around 23.33 lakh students appeared for the exam for about 1.08 lakh seats in government and private medical colleges, the bench said, “Merely because out of 23.33 lakh only 1.08 lakh students will get admission, we cannot order a re-test. Re-examination has to be on a concrete footing that the entire exam is affected.”

NEET-UG 24 Controversy

Controversy over the NEET-UG 2024 broke last month after allegations the question paper had been leaked – subsequent inquiries indicated the leak was orchestrated by a national ‘solver gang’ network – on social media.

The first red flags were the unusually high number of perfect scores. A record 67 students, including six from one coaching centre, scored a maximum of 720.

Questions were also asked over the award of ‘grace marks’ – not exam protocol, according to the authorities – to 1,563 students.

In an affidavit filed last week, the government, referring to the analysis by IIT Madras insisted there is no indication of “mass malpractice” nor evidence that some candidates had benefitted from cheating.