NEET-UG 2024
The hearing on the petitions to postpone the NEET-UG 2024 exam to next Thursday, July 18, was postponed by the Supreme Court on Thursday, July 11.
In order to give the petitioners time to submit their answers to the affidavits that the National Testing Agency and the Center filed yesterday, the Court granted the adjournment. The cases were originally scheduled to be listed on Monday, July 15, by the bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud; however, Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta cited a personal matter. SG announced that he will not be available on Monday and Tuesday, nor will the Attorney General. The Court then moved the cases to next Thursday because Muharram falls on Wednesday of next week.
A number of petitions asking for the annulment of the NEET-UG 2024 exam, which was held on May 5, due to paper leaks and unfair methods, were being considered by the bench, which included CJI DY Chandrachud, Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.
In an affidavit submitted yesterday, the Union Government refuted claims of widespread malpractice in the NEET-UG 2024 exam. It stated that the Indian Institute of Technology Madras’ data analytics revealed no anomalies, with the mark distribution following the typical bell-shaped curve of a large-scale exam.
In their affidavit, the NTA claims that the video purporting to display a picture of the NEET UG exam paper that was posted on Telegram on May 4 was a fake. It further stated that the timestamp had been tampered with to provide the impression of an early leak.
A bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud requested the Union’s and NTA’s comments on the scope of the paper leak and potential separation of the wrongdoers from others on the last day of hearings, July 8. The Court stated that a retest might be required if the integrity of the exam as a whole has been compromised and it is impossible to distinguish between the applicants who benefited from fraud and the sincere ones. The Court further declared that this retest would be the final one.choice, taking into account the effect on about 24 lakh students.
What Is the Concern Regarding NEET-UG?
On May 17, notice was given in the primary case of Vanshika Yadav v. Union of India, which calls for a retake of NEET UG 2024 due to purported exam malpractices and paper leaks.
Although the Supreme Court declined to postpone the release of the NEET-UG 2024 exam results, the bench, presided over by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, decided to take the case under consideration and scheduled a hearing for July, following the summer break.
Since then, numerous petitions have been submitted before the Supreme Court, claiming that numerous instances of paper leaks were discovered and that numerous irregularities occurred during the statewide examination that NTA conducted on May 5. Following the release of the NEET-UG Results, more appeals were filed against the ‘arbitrary’ grace mark awarded to 1536 candidates due to ‘loss of time,’ allegedly in an attempt to provide ‘back-door admittance’ for specific individuals.
A petition in the batch requests that the NEET-UG 2024 results be recalled and that a new exam be conducted. In other petitions, the CBI is asked to look into the alleged irregularities in the exam’s administration. In these cases, notice has been given, and a joint hearing has been scheduled.
A case for not holding a new NEET exam has also been filed in the Supreme Court by 56 medical students from Gujarat, who are against the requests to “re-NEET” and to annul the results of the NEET-UG 2024 exam.
Among other things, a different petition claims that NTA officers were involved in the manipulation of the OMR sheets.
The Court asked the Union Government and NTA questions on the nature of the paper leak and the steps taken to identify the beneficiaries of fraudulent practices when the matter was last heard on July 8. Declaring that there was no denying the paper leak that occurred during the NEET-UG test, it went on to say that the only thing left to determine was whether the leak was widespread or localized.
Important Things That Happened During The Vacation Bench Hearing
During the hearing of the petitions before the Vacation Bench, the Court emphasized to NTA that it must take responsibility for any errors it may have made. It further noted that, given the impact on the “sanctity” of the NEET-UG Examinations, NTA had to respond to the Court in a timely manner.
On June 21, the top Court rejected to stop counselling procedure for medical admissions and underlined that any such admissions will be subject to the result of the pending cases. The NTA and the Center notified it on July 5 that they did not support the complete cancellation of the exam.
Notably, a high-level expert committee was established by the Ministry of Education on June 22 to offer suggestions on “reforms in the mechanism of the examination process, improvements in data security protocols, and the structure and functioning of NTA.” Dr. K. Radhakrishnan, the former chairman of ISRO, will serve as chair of the expert committee.
Case Details : Vanshika Yadav v. UOI, W.P.(C) No. 335-/2024 (and connected matters)
READ ALSO : Sunil Gavaskar, the man who introduced Indian cricket to “Sunny Days,” is 75 years old.
Discover more from TazaKhabren
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
