NEET-UG 2024: NTA's Method Of Conducting Test Is Brittle, Petitioners Tell Supreme Court

The NEET-UG fiasco seems to be intensifying as the top court hears pleas pertaining to a country-wide retest of the exam in the backdrop of allegations of malpractice in one of the nation's most competitive exams.

The petitioners argued on Monday that the National Testing Agency's method of conducting the entire exam is so brittle that it does not inspire any confidence, and at every stage there is a possibility of a leak.

They have submitted that the NEET-UG 2024 paper leak did not take place on the morning of the examination, as has been contended by the NTA, but rather occurred before the question papers were lodged in the banks.

Statements by four people to the Bihar police show that the leak took place much prior to the examination date, the petitioners said.

It has also been argued that, based on an analysis of the data regarding the marks of students, there are certain centres that are performing exceedingly well. Not students, but centres. As an example, the lawyers stated that on a national level, six students out of 1,000 on average scored above 650 marks. In Sikar (Rajasthan), the average was one in four students.

Importantly, a lawyer for the petitioners cited a 2015 judgment of the top court, whereby the All-India Pre-Medical Test was cancelled when it was found out that 44 students were beneficiaries of malpractices.

It was contended that the court cancelled the exam even while the investigation was pending.

Another crucial point was raised by one of the lawyers for the petitioners, as she stated that for a particular question that allegedly had two answers, one as per the old NCERT book and one as per the new NCERT book, the NTA has given marks to all those students who attempted the question with either of the answers.

However, the NTA rule states that marks can be given to only those answers that are in the most recent edition of the NCERT book.

It was argued that this is unnecessarily inflating the marks of certain students, and the NTA is going against its own rules in doing so.

The top court has directed a team of three experts from IIT Delhi to resolve the issue arising from this impugned question by noon tomorrow.

The hearing in this case will continue on July 23, as the NTA will have to provide its responses to the allegations.

After the NEET-UG 2024 results were declared on June 4, widespread allegations of irregularities and demands for a re-examination echoed across the country. Over 24 lakh candidates across 4,750 centres in 571 cities, including 14 overseas venues, took the examination.

When the NTA unveiled the results, a staggering 67 students had secured the top rank, including six from the same examination centre in Haryana. This immediately led to allegations of the inflation of marks.

Additionally, the NTA awarded grace marks to 1,563 students due to their lack of sufficient time to complete the test and a question that allegedly had two correct answers. The NTA came under scrutiny for this process of awarding grace marks, which followed a normalisation formula, as it did not proactively notify students of their grace marks at the time of award; instead, it acted in response to their protests.

On June 8, Subodh Kumar Singh, the director general of the NTA, said that the agency had decided to form a four-person, high-powered committee to revisit the grievances faced by 1,600 candidates across six centres and allay fears in the minds of 23 lakh students. However, he claimed that the integrity of the exam was not compromised.

Since then, grace marks awarded to these students have been cancelled and they have already been afforded the opportunity to either appear for a retest or accept their scorecards after the deletion of these grace marks.

During previous hearings, the apex court has said that it is an undeniable fact that the leak took place. However, the court observed that ordering a retest in an exam of this magnitude should be an option of last resort.