NEET UG Supreme Court Hearing 2024 Highlights: Supreme Court orders NTA to release results by July 20 at noon

During today’s hearing, Senior Advocate Narendra Hooda highlighted a fivefold increase in the number of candidates scoring between 550 to 720 marks. In response, the Chief Justice of India raised concerns about a potential paper leak, prompting Mr. Hooda to label it as a red flag and call for a thorough investigation.

During today’s session, the Chief Justice of India queried the National Testing Agency (NTA) regarding the number of students appearing for NEET UG over the past three years. NTA provided the following data:

The CJI observed a 33% increase in the number of candidates from 2022 to 2024.

The NTA has informed the Supreme Court that undergraduate medical counselling will commence on July 24.

The CJI questioned whether the entire question paper could be solved in just 45 minutes, considering there are 180 questions. He pointed out a breach in Hazaribagh and Patna, while the NTA stated that around 80 students qualified from this area.

The Centre and the NTA have opposed the demand for a re-test, asserting that the malpractices were localized and did not compromise the exam’s integrity. However, the petitioners argue that the leak was widespread, claiming the paper was leaked before May 3, while the exam took place on May 5.

The CJI announced that the hearing will continue on Monday at 10:30 AM, with a goal to conclude by noon, and requested a copy of the Bihar police report. Mr. Hooda suggested halting the counseling process, while the SG clarified that counseling will start around July 24 and will take two to three months. The CJI confirmed the hearing will resume on Monday.

The Supreme Court has granted the NTA an extension until noon on Saturday to publish the NEET results.

The CJI has instructed the NTA to publish NEET-UG 2024 exam marks while ensuring student identities are masked. Results should be declared separately by city and center. The results are scheduled to be uploaded by 5 PM tomorrow.

The Supreme Court has instructed the NTA to release the marks of all NEET UG 2024 students, using masked roll numbers arranged in dummy sequences center-wise.

The Chief Justice of India (CJI) remarked that if students received the papers after 10 am on May 5, it is highly unlikely that they could solve the paper between 9:30 and 10:15, and then distribute it to other students. He added that the idea of a breach occurring and the entire paper being solved within 45 minutes seems very farfetched.

The NTA’s counsel asserts that the Telegram video was fake. The Solicitor General, supporting the NTA’s argument, explained, “Telegram channels have an inbuilt feature that reflects any changes made. This indicates that the video was circulated after the exam.”

In opposition, Hooda argued that while content on Telegram can be altered, the timestamp cannot be. He added, “There are flaws in the NTA’s argument that the video emerged only after the exam.”

CJI Chandrachud stated, “The idea of somebody doing this was not to make a national charade of the NEET. People doing this were out to make money. Anybody wanting to make money would not be able to do so without a massive network.”

During the hearing, CJI also asked for evidence of NEET UG syllabus expansion.

SG explained that the CBI conducted a thorough investigation spanning from the printers to the distribution centers, scrutinising the sealing process and implementing GPS tracking. The system included a robust 7-layer safety protocol.

Resuming his submissions, Hooda argued that IIT Madras used data from 23.33 lakh students instead of the relevant 1.08 lakh to assert there was no mass malpractice in NEET. He stated that IIT Madras compared data from various cities, such as Delhi and Surat, to claim there was no significant surge in marks compared to previous years.

During the NEET 2024 Supreme Court hearing, the Solicitor General provided insights on the impact of reopening the application window.

“We received approximately 15,000 new registrations. Out of these 15,094 students, only 44 will secure admission within the top 1,08,000 ranks. Furthermore, around 12,000 of the new registrants are not qualifying,” stated the Solicitor General.

He pointed that the measure was not intended to benefit any specific group but was implemented as a pro-student initiative. “Only 44 out of the new registrations are gaining admissions,” he reiterated.

Bench resumes NEET UG hearing post luch break

After lunch, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) requested two clarifications from the Centre and the National Testing Agency (NTA):

1. Among the students who changed their exam cities, how many ranked within the top 1,08,000?

2. Is there a bias in favor of those who registered on April 9 and 10?

The court has recessed for lunch and will reconvene at 2 pm to continue the ongoing proceedings. Counsel raises concerns about the allocation of grace marks and the distribution of exam papers.

The NTA counsel emphasises the difficulty in monitoring center changes during the correction window, explaining, “Under the guise of corrections, they switch centers. During this process, only the potential for change exists. Currently, the system does not detect these changes.”

NTA states that 15,000 students utilized the correction window. Chief Justice of India asks for details: “Out of those 15,000, how many switched their exam centers? How long was the window open?” The court aims to understand the scope and consequences of these adjustments on the examination procedures.

NTA granted grace marks to numerous students at exam centers where there was a delay in distributing the question paper. According to Hooda, when NTA’s actions were discovered, they organized a re-examination. Hooda emphasized that the court has not yet investigated who awarded grace marks to 1563 students.

The petitions, numbering over 40, include requests for:

At Hardayal School in Bahadurgarh, the question paper was sourced from Canara Bank instead of SBI, which was used nationwide. The school principal stated that they were instructed to administer the Canara Bank paper to their students. As a result, grace marks were awarded to all students at the school, according to Hooda.

The Supreme Court scrutinises the NTA’s affidavit outlining the state-wise distribution of the top 100 NEET-UG candidates: Jaipur (9), Bihar (7), Gujarat (6), and Haryana (4). Mr. Hooda raises concerns about discrepancies, highlighting undisclosed data from Jaipur and questioning the accuracy and thoroughness of IIT’s findings in the NEET-UG report.

Hooda pointed out that the Python software used by IIT Madras fails to detect the actual number of malpractices, as it is based on a dataset of 23 lakhs instead of the correct figure of 1,08,000. He also noted that the report overlooks the inclusion of nine toppers from Jaipur.

Hooda, representing the lead petitioner, has raised concerns regarding the IIT Madras report. “Inflation of marks and leaks have been admitted. The scale of the data is too vast to ensure no anomalies,” Hooda stated, casting doubt on the validity of the findings.

Hooda expressed concerns about the NEET-UG proceedings, noting that while the NTA claims an even distribution of toppers across 571 cities, the data provided only covers 17 students instead of the expected top 100. He raised questions regarding the transparency and completeness of the data presented by NTA.

Senior Advocate Narendra Hooda pointed out that the IIT Madras data should have been analyzed for 1 lakh students who secured seats, rather than focusing on 23 lakh students.

SG informed Chief Justice DY Chandrachud that the IIT Chairman had assigned Prof. Gopalakrishnan to attend NTA meetings. The conversation underscored procedural issues concerning IIT Madras’ role in the NTA governing body, stressing the importance of clear guidelines for attendance and representation.