The Supreme Court has issued a directive to the National Testing Agency (NTA) to avoid any “flip-flops” in the administration of exams, emphasizing that such errors are a luxury students cannot afford. This comes after the apex court ruled on pleas seeking the cancellation of NEET-UG 2024 over allegations of paper leaks and malpractices.
In its detailed judgment, the Supreme Court called for a complete restructuring of the exam process by the Central government. Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, along with Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, noted that there was no systemic breach in NEET-UG 2024 beyond the Hazaribagh and Patna centers, thus ruling out the need for a retest.
“The NTA must avoid the flip-flops it has done in this case. These flip-flops of the NTA do not serve the interests of the students,” the bench stated in its order.
The court directed the Centre to appoint a committee to recommend and implement a comprehensive overhaul of the exam process. This includes security improvements, data protection measures, periodic audits, surprise inspections of exam centers, grievance redressal mechanisms for students, and foolproof logistics.
The court highlighted several issues, such as question papers being transported in e-rickshaws to some exam centers during NEET-UG 2024. “These issues such as the rear door being kept open in the strong room etc., then granting compensatory marks, then grace marks which led to 44 students getting 720/720. We have highlighted all errors of NTA and thus the committee should identify and rectify these. These issues which have arisen must be rectified by the Union of India this year itself so that it is not repeated,” the order stated.
On July 23, the Supreme Court had declined to order a re-exam of NEET-UG, and today, it passed the detailed judgment. The ruling came in response to a batch of pleas seeking to recall NEET-UG 2024 results and conduct the examination afresh due to alleged paper leakage and malpractices.
Aspirants had approached the top court, raising issues of question paper leakage, awarding of compensatory marks, and anomalies in the questions of NEET-UG.
The NEET-UG examination, conducted by the NTA, serves as the gateway for admissions into MBBS, BDS, AYUSH, and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country. This year’s NEET-UG, held on May 5, saw participation from around 24 lakh candidates across 4,750 centers.
(ANI)