The Supreme Court on Thursday heard a clutch of petitions seeking re-test or cancellation of the 2024 NEET-UG exam. The bench headed by CJI Chandrachud recognized the irregularities in the exam for entrance to undergraduate medical courses – the results of which have been plagued by allegations of leaked question papers and incorrectly awarded ‘grace marks’.
The apex court heard nearly 40 pleas related to the alleged irregularities on National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate). A bench comprising CJ DY Chandrachud and JB Pardiwala and Manoj Mishra heard more than 40 pleas.
CJI told the petitioners: “You have to show us that the leak was so systemic and affected the entire examination so as to warrant the cancellation of the entire exam. The re-examination has to be on concrete footing that the sanctity of entire test was affected.”
After a tense morning session, which included arguments over a report by IIT Madras that analysed the scores of all candidates to say there was no abnormality in mark distribution, the post-lunch spotlight was on security protocol for transportation of the question papers that were allegedly leaked.
Questions over transportation were flagged after CBI suggested a leak – either while the papers were being taken to centres or after they arrived at one – a school in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh.
Appearing for the petitioners, senior advocate Narender Hooda said, “… coming to the chain of custody (of the question papers), Their case is the papers were sent to centres on April 24 via a private courier.”
Join our whatsapp group for Latest updates