NEET UG 2024 SC Hearing: Supreme Court’s 7 Key Remarks on Leak Allegations

NEET UG 2024 SC Hearing: The Supreme Court is reviewing a series of petitions calling for the cancellation, retest, and court-monitored investigation of the NEET UG 2024 exam, which took place on May 5. The hearing is set to resume on July 23.

NEET UG 2024 SC Hearing: On July 22, the Supreme Court instructed the Director of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, to establish a three-member expert committee to assess the correct answer for a multiple-choice question from the NEET-UG 2024 exam. The National Testing Agency (NTA) had awarded marks for two options for this question.

The directive followed a hearing of petitions challenging the NTA’s decision to accept both options as correct. The Court has requested that the expert opinion be submitted by 12 noon, according to the legal news website LiveLaw.

The Supreme Court is reviewing a series of petitions requesting the cancellation, retest, and court-monitored investigation of the NEET UG 2024 exam conducted on May 5. The hearing will resume on July 23 before a bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, alongside Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.

Here are the key remarks made by the Supreme Court bench during the hearing on July 22.

The bench stated, ‘As the question was framed, students were required to choose one answer. To address the issue of the correct answer, we believe it is necessary to seek an expert opinion from IIT Delhi.

The court requested the Director of IIT Delhi to form a three-member expert team in the relevant subject. This team is asked to determine the correct answer and submit their opinion to the Registrar by 12 noon the following day. The Registrar General is instructed to inform the IIT Delhi Director of this order to ensure prompt action in preparing the opinion.

During the hearing, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud noted that the petitioner’s argument had merit. He remarked, ‘This is a compelling argument. The instructions are to follow the latest NCERT edition. According to this edition, Option 4 is the correct answer. Therefore, those who selected Option 2 should not receive full marks. They might have a valid point here,’ as reported by LiveLaw.

Chief Justice DY Chandrachud remarked, ‘In many professional exams, students select certain centers due to the perception that marking is more lenient there. However, this alone may not be sufficient grounds to cancel the entire exam,’ during the hearing.

Chief Justice DY Chandrachud asked, ‘How do you prove that the paper leak spread nationwide?’ This question followed Advocate Narender Hooda’s statement that, in addition to the paper leak, the system is so fragile that it is repeatedly compromised.

Chief Justice DY Chandrachud remarked, ‘If the leak occurred on the night of May 4, it clearly did not happen during transportation but rather beforehand, in the strong room vault.’

He added, ‘This suggests that students were asked to memorize material on the night of May 4, indicating that the leak must have happened before that date,’ after reviewing the Bihar Police report.

The CJI also requested that the remaining lawyers advocating for a retest submit their written arguments via email.

If there are loopholes, we will address them,” the CJI said. “You have mainly focused on Hazaribagh, Patna, and some lapses in Bahadurgarh. Where is the evidence of a systemic failure?” he asked Advocate Narender Hooda, representing the petitioners.

He added, “So far, we do not have any material to show that the leak was widespread and affected the entire country.