As the NEET controversy continues to brew, the Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a notice to the National Testing Agency (NTA) saying that the sanctity of the examinations has been affected.
The apex court was hearing a petition seeking revocation of the recently announced scores and fresh conduction of the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEET) after students alleged that there was a paper leak.
A vacation bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah, however, refused to stay the counselling of successful candidates for admissions to MBBS, BDS and other courses.
NEET-UG, 2024 was held on May 5 and its results were declared on June 4. It was expected to be declared on June 14.
“It is not that simple that because you have done it is sacrosanct. Sanctity has been affected, so we need answers,” the court said.
Who filed the plea and what did it say?
The plea was filed by Shivangi Mishra and nine others on June 1 before the results were declared. The court kept receiving more petitions on the case after NEET results were announced, which claimed that this year’s examination was riddled with malpractices and questioned the NTA over the granting of grace marks to many students.
The alleged paper leak was violative of Article 14 (right to equality) under the Constitution as it gave an undue advantage to some candidates over others who chose to attempt the examination in a fair manner, the petition said.
About the controversy
The controversy has invited criticism from the Opposition with Congress Rahul Gandhi proclaiming that he would be “the voice of students” in the Parliament. Many students were seen protesting outside the Ministry of Education.
Meanwhile, NTA last week said the education ministry has set up a four-member panel to review the grace marks awarded to more than 1,500 candidates in the exam.
In its recommendations, the committee said ”the State government may undertake immediate steps to eliminate NEET, as qualifying criteria for admission to medical programmes, by following the required legal and/or legislative procedures.”
With inputs from agencies
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‘Sanctity has been affected’: SC issues notice to NTA over NEET row
