New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice on a plea highlighting irregularities in NEET-UG 2024 and also seeking the cancellation of the prestigious examination for medical courses. The apex court, which sought response from the National Testing Agency (NTA), said that NTA will have to give answers as the sanctity of the examination has been affected.
The apex court turned down a contention seeking a stay on the counselling, while the matter is pending before the court, and scheduled the matter for further hearing on July 8.
A bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Ahsanuddin Amanullah said: “It is not so simple.... as you have done it, then it is sacrosanct. We need answers for that. A lot of things are coming, and the sanctity has been affected. We need answers…”.
The bench asked the counsel, representing the National Testing Agency, how much time does he want to file a response in the matter and added that the court may hear the matter immediately on the reopening after the summer vacation. The counsel replied that on July 8 another similar matter is coming up for hearing before a bench led by the Chief Justice of India. “We will have it on July 8. In the meantime, file your response….we will tag (this petition) with that”, said Justice Nath.
Advocate Mathew Nedumpara, representing the petitioners', urged the bench to allow him make a submission regarding the matter. However, the bench turned down his request. “Issue notice. In the meantime, response may be filed by NTA, respondent number 1….”, said the bench, which also issued notice to other respondents’ in the matter.
Nedumpara urged the apex court to stay the NEET-UG counselling. “Let the counselling start. We are not stopping the counselling”, said Justice Nath. Nedumpara represented Shivangi Mishra and others, who moved the apex court on June 1 before the declaration of the results.
The petitioners' said that after having stumbled upon news of the NEET exam paper leak, they have been shaken at the core. "Since the breaking of news on the NEET exam paper leak, the petitioners are under tremendous stress and anxiety for they and their family members had nurtured the dream of petitioners becoming a medical practitioner one day," said the plea.
“The Petitioners, though they have prepared diligently, might miss out on securing medical seats due to the unfair advantage gained by those with access to leaked information. This can be a huge setback, forcing them to wait a year to re-appear for the exam and potentially delaying their medical careers by a significant amount of time, impacting their whole life”, added the plea.
The plea sought a direction for staying the declaration of results of NEET (U.G.) exam held on May 5, 2024 till the investigations on paper leak are completed containing a report about the dimension of the such offence and its impact on the number of examinees.
After the declaration of the results, few more petitions were filed challenging the NTA’s decision to award grace marks to several candidates. However, these petitions were not listed today.
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