A Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra began 38 petitions on Monday in connection with the alleged malpractices and irregularities in the NEET-UG exam.
The petitions are seeking to cancel the NEET-UG 2024 exam over paper leak allegations.
The Supreme Court said that it is “clear that leak of NEET UG question paper has taken place. We want to know the number of beneficiaries of question paper leak, what action has been taken against them.”
Also Read: NEET UG 2024 Live Updates
A three-judge bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud said if the question paper leak was taking place through social media, like Telegram, WhatsApp and electronic means, then “it spread like wildfire”. The judges have asked for disclosures from the exam conducting body NTA.
While hearing the petitions, the court directed the National Testing Agency (NTA) to fully disclose three aspects: (1) the steps which were taken by NTA to identify centres/cities where leak took place; (2) modalities followed for identifying and; (3) number of students who have so far been identified to be beneficiaries.
The NTA has been directed by the CJI to clarify on the basis of information available as on date: (1) when the leak of question papers took place; (2) manner in which papers were leaked/disseminated and; (3) time duration between leak and actual conduct of exam.
Also Read: NEET Paper Leak: Bihar police report reveals four aspirants memorised answers night before exam
The bench also asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to submit a status report by July 10.
The lawyers representing a petitioner said that they were seeking the cancellation of the exam on grounds such as paper leak, OMR sheet manipulation, impersonation and cheating. CJI Chandrachud said that “if leak has been propagated through social media, then a re-test has to be ordered.”
The top court said, “The matter of cancellation of an exam for 24 lakh students is a matter of last resort”.
The Supreme Court also sought clarification on the national scale of withheld results due to such leaks and their distribution across states. Additionally, the court queried the ongoing identification process of wrongdoers.
Meanwhile, the Union government has expressed its unwillingness to re-conduct the NEET UG 2024 in its submission before the Supreme Court, stating that scrapping it entirely would “seriously jeopardise the lakhs of honest candidates” who appeared for the exam this year on May 5.