Supreme Court Says Any Order For Conducting NEET-UG 2024 Afresh Has To Be On The Concrete Footing
By News On Air Jul 18, 2024
The Supreme Court says the retest of the NEET examination has to be on a concrete footing and that the sanctity of the entire exam was affected. The Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud today started hearing more than 40 petitions alleging irregularities and malpractices in the conduct of the medical entrance exam NEET-UG 2024.
On the issue of the ongoing probe, the bench said, “The CBI probe is on. If what the CBI has told us is revealed, it will affect the investigation, and people will become wise.” A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwla and Manoj Misra commenced the crucial hearing on a batch of petitions related to the controversy-ridden medical entrance exam NEET-UG 2024, saying that it has “social ramifications.”.
The bench asked the petitioners seeking cancellation, a re-test, and a court-monitored probe into the alleged irregularities in the May 5 exam to show that the paper leak was “systemic” and affected the entire examination, warranting cancellation.
The court will resume the hearing in the afternoon. More than 23.33 lakh students had taken the test on May 5 at 4,750 centres in 571 cities, including 14 overseas. In their affidavits filed earlier in the apex court, the Centre and the National Testing Agency (NTA) had said that scrapping the exam would be “counterproductive” and “seriously jeopardise” lakhs of honest candidates in the absence of any proof of a large-scale breach of confidentiality. The National Eligibility-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) is conducted by the NTA for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH, and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country.
Earlier, the bench, also comprising Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, had underscored that the fact that the sanctity of the exam was compromised was “beyond question.” It, however, maintained that the decision to cancel the exam in its entirety would be an “extreme last resort” as it affected the lives of over 23 lakh students. NEET-UG hearing.