New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday shot a volley of probing questions at the National Testing Agency (NTA) in connection with the conduct of the NEET UG exam.
A three-judge led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, hearing petitions on the alleged paper leak, asked NTA to explain how it allowed 15,000 new registrations when the Rajasthan High Court order had directed opening the registration window for only one candidate.
The top court asked the NTA to inform it about the number of students who changed exam cities and then made it to the top 1.08 lakh and whether there was any skew in favour of those who registered on April 9 and 10. The apex court is hearing nearly 40 pleas related to the alleged irregularities in NEET-UG.
Pointing out that NTA reported 15,000 students used the correction window, the bench asked, “Out of that 15,000, how many changed their centres? How many days was the window available?"
The bench, also comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, sought clarity on the extent and impact of these corrections on the examination process. It noted that 61 students across India got 720 out of 720 out of which 44 students got the benefit of that one question where there were two correct answers.
The CJI asked the NTA’s counsel how many students changed centres out of the 23 lakh who appeared in the examination. NTA counsel said the centre allotment was on two aspects, one a permanent city and the other a current city, and students did not get any specific option as a change of centre. "Once you are registered, you cannot change the centre?" asked the CJI.
The NTA counsel said in the name of correction some students changed the centre and the correction was approved for information in the application form.
The counsel accepted the challenge of tracking centre changes during the correction window. He said that in the name of corrections, students change centres. “During that process, only the possibility of changing (the centre) happens. We will never know it. As of now, the system doesn't catch that”, he said.
“We do not know how many students changed their centres when the window was open…15,000 students utilized the window which was kept open for making corrections in their application”, the bench asked. NTA counsel said 15,000 students utilized the correction option. The CJI asked out of 15,000, how many corrected the centre.
The bench asked whether the candidates could change the city as the centre is allotted to them by NTA. “A candidate from Guwahati can change it to Lucknow. No candidate can decide on the centre. Centres are allotted only by NTA (by the computer system)?” the bench asked
The NTA said centre allotment takes place only two or three days before the exact date of the exam and nobody would come to know which centre is allocated to them.
“The first window was March 18-20, all fields can be corrected? When was the second window?” asked the CJI. The bench was informed the new window was opened for new registration on April 9 and April 10. The CJI asked NTA’s counsel how new applications came in the second window.
NTA counsel said in Godhra, only 34 candidates opted for a change in their centre, and of them, the change was approved in favour of 16 only.
"Do we have any data on how many students all over the country (changed their centres)…how many of 1.08 lakh would have changed their cities, we would like to know that. We would also like to see the distribution of the cities they changed their centres to. Was there any change in one of these suspect areas, like Hazaribagh, Patna? Was there any concentration in the change of cities to specific cities”, asked the CJI.
"Is there any skew in those who got registered on dates in April....those who changed their centres, how many of those have made it to the 1.08 lakh? Second, is there any skew in favour of those who changed their cities on April 9 and April 10?”
Senior advocate Sanjay Hedge said some changed their language, they asked for Gujarati medium. "Concentrate on April 9 and April 10. How many of the fresh registrations changed their centres? How did you open the portal on April 9, 10, beyond that one student as a result of which 15,000 were registered? Out of 15,000 students, how many are in 1.08 lakh”, asked the CJI.
The bench asked the NTA counsel to get information on these questions for the hearing on the matter after lunch. Advocate Mathews Nedumpara strongly criticized the IIT report calling it "a lie." The CJI intervened, urging him to bring on record factual evidence rather than unsubstantiated claims against a premier institution.
During the hearing, the apex court also reviewed the NTA's affidavit detailing the state-wise distribution of the top 100 NEET-UG candidates: Jaipur (9), Bihar (7), Gujarat (6), and Haryana (4). A counsel alleged discrepancies, pointing out unreported data from Jaipur and raised concerns, stating that while NTA claims even distribution of toppers across 571 cities, data provided covers only 17 students, not the top 100 as expected.
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