Supreme Court of India (PTI), Student organisations protest against NEET-UG results
New Delhi, Jul 18: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the National Testing Agency (NTA) to declare by 12 noon of July 20 the centre and city-wise results of controversy-ridden NEET-UG 2024 while masking the identities of the aspirants, saying it wanted to ascertain whether candidates appearing at allegedly tainted centres scored more marks than those elsewhere.
As it strove to address the allegations of malpractices in the conduct of the May 5 examination, a bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said any order for conducting it afresh has to be on concrete conclusion that the alleged leak was “systemic” and the sanctity of the entire process was affected.
“We direct the NTA to publish the marks obtained by students at the UG-2024 NEET examination, while, at the same time, without disclosing the identity of the students. The result should be declared city and centre wise by 12 noon on July 20, 2024 and shall be uploaded on the website of the NTA,” the bench, also comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said in its order.
“We want the identity of students be masked. You can have dummy roll numbers. But let us see it centre-wise what is the marks pattern,” the bench said.
The top court will resume hearing arguments on July 22 on a batch of pleas seeking cancellation, re-test and court-monitored probe into the allegations of malpractice in the prestigious exam.
The bench noted the counsel for the petitioners have submitted that it would be appropriate if the result of NEET-UG 2024 examination was published on the NTA website so as to bring about transparency with regard to centre-wise marks obtained by candidates.
It also said that material collected by the Bihar Police and the report of its Economic Offences Wing (EOW), before the investigation was taken over by the CBI, shall be filed in the court by 5 P.M. on July 20.
At the outset, the bench said it has prioritised the hearing on the pleas over other cases as these have “social ramifications” and lakhs of students are waiting for the outcome.
It rejected the submission of the petitioners that they were handicapped as the CBI’s status report filed in the court was not made available to them.
“This is not a sealed cover procedure and we are all for transparency. What the CBI has told us, if it is revealed, probably the investigation may get scuttled. The investigation is going on as of today. The people will become wise,” the CJI said.
“You (petitioners) will have to show us prima facie that the leak is systemic and has affected the sanctity of the entire exam so that we must cancel it,” the bench said.
Senior advocate Narender Hooda, appearing for some of the petitioners, vehemently sought cancellation of the exam claiming “systemic failure” in holding it.
He alleged 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, appearing for the Centre, asserted there was no leak of question papers.
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.
“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,” the bench said.
The bench said it prima facie appeared that the question paper leak was limited to Patna and Hazaribagh, and nothing of that sort could be said to have happened in Godhra in Gujarat.
In Patna and Hazaribagh, the question papers allegedly got leaked, while in Godhra there were claims that a person involved in holding the test took money for filling up the OMR sheets of certain candidates at an exam centre.
Questioning the claims about the leak of question paper on social media platform ‘Telegram’, the bench said, “You have to bear in mind that the idea of somebody doing this was not to make a national charade. People did it for money. So, it was not to bring disrepute to the exam and somebody was doing it to make money which is evident. Mass leakage requires contacts also at that level so that you connect to all such key contacts in different cities.”
The NTA’s counsel claimed the Telegram video was doctored.
The bench questioned the NTA for hiring a private courier for transporting question papers from the printing press to the vault of the SBI and Canara Bank in different cities.
“How much you make in terms of revenue from the examination?” the bench asked. Mehta said around Rs 400 crore was generated from such exams and the expenditure stood at approximately Rs 300 crore.
“Mr Solicitor, you engage a private courier company (for transporting question papers)?” the CJI asked Mehta.
Mehta then referred to the CBI’s status report filed in the court and said the agency has probed the entire chain– from the printing press to the examination centre– and there was a seven-layer safety system to prevent any malpractice.
The bench referred to the NTA data about 100 toppers and said they hailed from different states like Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Delhi, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
“What is worrying us is how much was the time gap between the breach (paper leak) and the exam,” the bench observed during the hearing.
While posting the matter for further hearing on July 22, the bench said it would like to have a copy of the report of Bihar Police, which initially probed the case.
At the fag end of the hearing, when Hooda asked the court if the counselling for NEET-UG 2024 can be stayed, Mehta said counselling takes two-three months and it is likely to commence from July 24.
More than 23.33 lakh students had taken the test on May 5 at 4,750 centres in 571 cities, including 14 overseas.
The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) is conducted by the NTA for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country.
