The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected requests for a retest for 1.08 lakh MBBS seats in government and private medical colleges. The Court found no evidence that the exam paper leak in Hazaribag affected the results or compromised the integrity of the NEET-UG examination. This decision removes the uncertainty surrounding NEET-UG and eases the anxiety of those vying for these medical college seats.
However, 4.2 lakh students will lose 5 marks (4 for the question and 1 negative mark for answering it wrong) due to an error in an atomic theory question, as the SC accepted the IIT-Delhi expert committee’s report. This will lead to significant rank changes. One of the toppers who scored 720 out of 720 will see her score drop to 715, affecting her chances of getting into AIIMS-Delhi, according to her counsel.
After a four-day hearing, a bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra dictated the order in open court after business hours. They stated, “At the present stage, there is an absence of material on record sufficient to lead to the conclusion that results of the examination stand vitiated or that there was a systemic breach in the sanctity of the examination.” The bench mentioned that a detailed judgment would follow and that they had announced the operative portion to address the uncertainty among 23.33 lakh NEET-UG 2024 candidates. Counselling for MBBS admissions is set to begin on Wednesday.
CJI Chandrachud said, “Adding to the absence of conclusive material on record at the present stage, the city-wise and centre-wise data placed on record by National Testing Agency (NTA) and a comparison of NEET-UG results for the years 2022, 2023, and 2024 is not indicative of a systemic leak of question paper (this year), which would indicate destruction of the sanctity of the examination.”
The court validated the NTA and the Centre’s stance that the Hazaribag leak was a localized issue and did not compromise the exam’s integrity, thus NEET-UG need not be scrapped. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and CBI additional director Krishna informed the court that the leak’s impact was limited to Hazaribag and Patna, benefiting only 155 candidates, with only two scoring above 570 marks. The court noted that the candidature of these 155 candidates had been canceled, and they may be barred from future NEET-UG exams. Admissions of candidates later found to have engaged in wrongdoing would be canceled.
The court stated, “If investigation reveals involvement of an increased number of beneficiaries (of question paper leak), then action shall be pursued against those students who are found involved in wrongdoing at any stage, notwithstanding the completion of the counseling process. No student who has engaged in acts of fraud and is a beneficiary of malpractices would be entitled to claim vested right to admission in future.”
Accepting Mehta’s argument on the leak being localized, given that the test was conducted in 4,750 centers in 571 cities, the bench stated that canceling the entire exam would cause serious inconvenience to honest students who had prepared diligently for years. They added that a fresh NEET-UG test would disrupt medical course admission schedules, impact the availability of future medical professionals, and disadvantage students from marginalized groups who benefit from reservation in seat allocation.
The bench concluded, “For the above reasons, we are of the considered view that ordering cancellation of the entire NEET-UG examination is neither justified on the application of the settled position of this court or on the basis of the material on record.”
The court assured the petitioners, represented by lead counsel Narender Hooda and Sanjay Hegde, that it would independently verify the data submitted by NTA. The SC said individual grievances, including improper evaluation of OMR sheets, should be raised before jurisdictional high courts after withdrawing pleas from the apex court.
