‘Need answers’: Supreme Court issues notice to NTA over NEET-UG 2024 paper leak allegations

The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a notice to the National Testing Agency (NTA) seeking a response to the plea that sought fresh National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) undergraduate (UG) examination 2024 (NEET-UG 2024) over alleged paper leak and irregularities.

“Sanctity has been affected, we need answers,” the top court's vacation bench comprising Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah said, as it tagged the petition filed by 10 NEET candidates.

The court also refused to stay the counselling process for admissions in MBBS, BDS, and other courses for successful candidates.

“We will not stop the counselling. If you argue further, we will dismiss this,” the court said.

The matter has been listed for further hearing on July 8.

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The plea alleged that NEET-UG, 2024, was riddled with malpractices, as the petitioners had learned of various instances of paper leaks. The alleged paper leak was violative of Article 14 (right to equality) under the Constitution as it gave an undue advantage to some candidates over others who chose to attempt the examination in a fair manner, it said.

Notably, the NEET-UG examination is conducted by the NTA for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH, and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country.

The NEET-UG 2024 was held on May 5, and the results were declared on June 4.

Meanwhile, another few petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court over the NTA's decision to award grace marks to several candidates in the NEET-UG 2024 examination.

These petitions, filed by Alakh Pandey, the CEO of Physics Wallah, will be heard on Wednesday. Pandey collected signatures from about 20,000 students, which show that at least 1,500 students have been randomly awarded 70 to 80 grace marks.

“The court has indicated that our matter will also be taken up with the other matters, but the court is clear that it will not stay the counselling process at this stage,” Advocate J Sai Deepak said.

Meanwhile, Pandey said, “Here the students were demanding justification on the grounds of the paper leak only but not about the grace marks or anything else, because it was listed on 1st June before results. Our PIL will be listed tomorrow. It is regarding the paper leak as well as the grace marks, the transparencies of NTA and everything else.”