The Supreme Court has instructed the Union Government and the National Testing Agency (NTA) to ensure that even ‘0.001%’ negligence in conducting of NEET UG 2024 exam must be keenly observed considering the labor the candidates have put in to prepare for the exam. The bench of Justice Vikram Nath and SV Bhatti was hearing similar concerns like – paper leak, grace marks, etc.
Justice Bhatti said, “Even if there is 0.001% negligence on the part of anyone, it should be thoroughly dealt with. All these matters ought not to be treated as adversarial litigation.”
He also added that any candidate who turns out to become a doctor after playing this fraud in the exam is more dangerous to society. However, the judges are conscious of the hard work put in for the highly competitive exam. “Imagine a situation where a person who has played fraud on the system, has become a doctor, he is more deleterious towards a society….we all know the labor the children undergo especially for preparing for these exams.” Justice Bhatti remarked.
“Your stance (the NTA and Union) ought not to change the moment you enter the court, representing the Agency which is responsible for conducting the examination. You must stand firm- if there is a mistake, yes there is a mistake, this is the action we will take- at least that inspires confidence in your performance….if someone keeps just a table in front of him, find out the performance of most of the candidates, one can easily understand where it has gone wrong, how many cell phones were used…clearly we react, but in vacation we react slowly,” he added.
The petitioners in the current appeal expressed worries about the state of the investigation into the NEET-UG paper leak instances. It was suggested that because NEET-UG counselling is scheduled for July 6, the investigation status needed to be notified.
The bench grouped the case with other pending petitions and directed the counsels to provide detailed submissions on July 8 at once. The NTA and Union were also instructed to submit their responses within two weeks.
“We need timely action from you,” Justice Nath told the Union and NTA.
