No systemic breach of NEET-UG 2024 exam except at Hazaribagh & Patna, says SC

NEW DELHI, (IANS): Declining to order a re-test, the Supreme Court on Friday reiterated that there was no systemic breach of the NEET-UG 2024 exam except in Patna and Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh.

A bench headed by CJI Chandrachud deprecated the National Testing Agency (NTA) to award compensatory marks to 1,563 students on account of loss of time, which was later recalled after several petitions were filed before the top court. Later, these candidates were given the option to appear in a re-test or to appear in counselling on the basis of actual marks obtained in the exam without normalisation.

“We have said that NTA must now avoid flip-flops it made in this case as it does not serve the interests of students,” observed the Bench, also comprising Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.

Referring to NTA’s decision to treat two options as the correct answers to a question, the apex court remarked that as many as 44 candidates were able to secure full marks on account of the ambiguous question.

It asked the NTA to re-tally the marks afresh in view of the opinion rendered by the expert panel of IIT Delhi in respect of a contentious physics question.

Further, the top court expanded the remit of the High-Level Committee of Experts constituted by the Centre in the wake of the NEET-UG examination controversy.

On June 26, the Union Ministry of Education established a seven-member expert panel -- headed by Dr K. Radhakrishnan, former Chairman ISRO and Chairman, Board of Governors, IIT Kanpur -- to recommend effective measures for the conduct of transparent, smooth and fair examinations by the National Testing Agency (NTA).

The High-Level Committee of Experts was formed after the SC asked the Centre to detail the steps taken to ensure the sanctity of the NEET in the future.

Now, the High-Level Committee of Experts has been directed to formulate a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) regarding the timeline for registration, change of exam centres, sealing of OMR sheets and other processes related to the conduct of exams.

“The report of the committee shall be submitted to the Union Ministry of Education by September 30. The Ministry of Education shall take a decision on the recommendations made by the committee within a period of one month from receiving the report,” the SC ordered.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, the second highest law officer of the Centre, said that the judgment will be implemented in its letter and spirit by the Union government.