No NEET-UG 2024 cancellation, re-exam, rules Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected cancelling of NEET UG 2024 saying that there was no material to indicate that the paper leak was systematic and affected the sanctity of the entire medical entrance examination.

‘Cancelling NEET UG 2024 not justified’

“We are of the considered view that ordering the cancellation of the entire NEET UG 2024 exam is neither justified on application of settled principles propounded by the decisions of this court (nor) on the basis of material on record,” Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud said, who was hearing a batch of petitions with Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra seeking to cancel the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) held for Under Graduate (UG) medical admissions on May 5, 2024 for paper leak and malpractices.

The apex court said that if it would have ordered re-examination, it would have lead to serious consequences affecting more than 23 lakh students, disrupting their academic schedule and causing a cascading effect in the coming years.

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Evidence not sufficient to show widespread leak

The top court acknowledge that there was NEET UG paper leak in the exam centres in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh and in Patna, Bihar, but said: “At the present stage there is absence of material on record to lead to a conclusion that result of the exam is vitiated or that there is a systemic breach of the sanctity of the exam.”

The petitioners, who are candidates who wrote NEET, had sought reexamination citing irregularities including question paper leaks.

Re-tally NEET UG 2024 result

Reading out the verdict after hearing the matter for nearly four days, CJI Chandrachud said: “We (the court) accept IIT Delhi report and accordingly NTA shall re-tally the NEET UG result on the basis that option 4 represents the only correct answer to the question. We have not indicated the number of the question since number of question may vary as per procedure followed in the exam to preserve the integrity of the process.”

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The Union and the National Testing Agency took the stand that the leak was localised in nature and that the beneficiaries are identifiable. The Union also cited a data analytics report prepared by the IIT-Madras which showed no abnormalities in the results or indication of any mass malpractice.

The Court pronounced the judgment today evening after hearing the matter for nearly four days.

With inputs from LiveLaw