The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to cancel the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Under Graduate (NEET-UG) 2024 examination held on May 5, holding that there was no systemic breach in the exam.
A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said that at the present stage, there is an absence of material on record to lead to the conclusion that the result of the exam is vitiated or that there is any systematic breach.
It said the data on record is not indicative of a systemic leak of the NEET-UG question paper, which would indicate a disruption of the sanctity of the exam.
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However, it acknowledged the fact that the leak of the NEET-UG paper took place at Hazaribagh and Patna and said that it is “not in dispute”.
The apex court also said that the report submitted by the government shows probe is ongoing and the central agency indicates that material shows 155 students drawn from the exam centres at Hazaribagh and Patna appeared to be the beneficiaries of the fraud.
“The probe by the CBI, however, has not attained finality,” it added.
The bench also said that directing a fresh NEET-UG exam for the present year would be replete with serious consequences for over 23 lakh students who appeared in this exam.
“Ordering a re-exam will lead to disruption of the academic schedule, causing a cascading effect in the coming years,” the bench stated in its order.
As the bench started dictating order, it said there is an urgent need to provide certainty and finality to the dispute which has occurred and affected the careers of over 2 million students.
The order of the apex court came on a batch of pleas seeking direction to recall NEET-UG 2024 results and to conduct the examination afresh, alleging paper leakage and malpractices in the test held.
Aspirants had approached the top court and raised the issue of leakage of the question paper, awarding compensatory marks and anomaly in the NEET-UG.
NEET-UG examination, conducted by NTA, is the pathway for admissions into MBBS, BDS and AYUSH and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country.
The NEET-UG, 2024 was held across 4,750 centres on May 5 and around 24 lakh candidates appeared in it.