New Delhi (TIP)- The Supreme Court on Friday, June 14, issued notices to the Centre and the National Testing Agency (NTA) on petitions seeking a CBI probe into alleged paper leak and irregularities in NEET-UG 2024 in which 67 students got a perfect score of 720 out of 720.
Asking the Centre and the NTA to respond to the petitions seeking a CBI probe into alleged paper leak and malpractices in NEET-UG 2024, a Vacation Bench led by Justice Vikram Nath asked them to respond in two weeks and posted the matter for further hearing on July 8 when certain other petitions on the issue would also be taken up.
As the petitioners’ advocates said it’s a question of lakhs of students and that candidates were committing suicides, the Bench asked them not to make any emotional arguments. It said no ex-parte order could be passed on their plea for a CBI probe without hearing the counsel for the Centre and the NTA.
“We understand that…we are conscious of all that,” said Justice Nath, adding they could argue it on July 8. Besides a CBI probe into alleged paper leak, the petitioners have also sought cancellation of the NEET–UG, 2024, results of which were declared on June 4. The Bench also issued notices to various parties on NTA’s petition seeking transfer of cases pending in various high courts on the NEET-UG row to the top court to avoid multiplicity of litigation. Now both petitions will be taken up for hearing on July 8.
Meanwhile, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on June 14 said the government will not tolerate malpractice and irregularities in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), but indicated that scrapping the entire entrance examination was unlikely as the sanctity of the process could not be judged by irregularities in a handful of sessions.
Pradhan spoke hours after groups of students protested outside the education ministry and submitted a memorandum asking for a re-exam for everyone, a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the skewed results, and transparency from the National Testing Agency (NTA).
He also met some of the agitating students and their parents, but reiterated that there was no concrete proof to establish the allegations of paper leaks during the exam this year. He also said there were more toppers this year because 300,000 more students appeared for the test and the authorities had rationalised the syllabus.
“I assured the students that their interest will be taken care of. I told them not to judge the sanctity of the exam on the basis of the issues reported at a few centres,” he said.
His comments came a day after the Supreme Court allowed the Centre to scrap grace marks awarded to 1,563 students and conduct a NEET for them amid chaos and allegations engulfing the premier examination that threaten to jeopardise the futures of hundreds of thousands of children.