The Supreme Court on Friday delivered its detailed judgment, dismissing the petitions seeking cancellation and re-examination of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2024.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra advised the National Testing Agency (NTA) to avoid inconsistencies concerning the safety of strongrooms where question papers are stored and the allocation of compensatory marks.
The Central government and the NTA must ensure that the issues encountered with the NEET UG 2024 exam are not repeated in future examinations, the bench noted.
“We have said that NTA must now avoid the flip flops which has happened now because it does not serve well. These issues such as rear door being kept open in strong room etc, then granting compensatory marks, then grace marks which led to 44 getting 720/720. We have highlighted all errors of NTA and thus committee should identify and rectify these. These issues which have arisen must be rectified by the Union of India this year itself so that it is not repeated,” the Court observed in its verdict, as quoted by Bar and Bench.
The apex court has confirmed there was no widespread breach in the NEET UG 2024 exam, except for issues in Hazaribagh and Patna, and has decided against a retest.
On July 23, the Court had already rejected calls for a re-examination, finding no evidence of major question paper leaks. Any issues were confined to a few students and did not affect the overall integrity of the exam.
The NEET UG exam, important for medical college admissions, faced allegations of widespread cheating. While some candidates asked for a re-test, others opposed it. The Central government and the National Testing Agency (NTA) argued that the leaks were limited and did not justify a re-examination.