The Supreme Court on Tuesday said even 0.001 per cent negligence in the conduct of NEET-UG examinations has to be thoroughly dealt with and advised the National Testing Agency to “admit mistakes”, if there are any.
Hearing fresh pleas on the NEET-UG 2024 results, the apex court issued notices to the Centre and NTA and sought a response within two weeks. The fresh cases will be heard along with other similar matters on July 8, the Court said.
A vacation bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and S.V. Bhatti observed that “immense labour” put in by candidates for preparation of the examination has to be considered and even 0.001 per cent negligence should be dealt with thoroughly.
SC told NTA, "As an agency which is conducting the examination, you must act fair. If there is a mistake, say yes, this is a mistake, and this is the action we are going to take. At least that inspires confidence in your performance," Live Law reported. "We expect timely action from you," the Court said.
The Court observed a person who becomes a doctor playing fraud of the system is “deleterious”. "Imagine a person who has played fraud on the system becomes a doctor, he is more deleterious to the society,” the Court said.
While hearing separate petitions raising grievances over the NEET-UG 2024, the apex court had last week sought responses from the Centre and the NTA on a plea for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into allegations of question paper leak and other irregularities in the exam.
The Centre and the NTA had on June 13 told the top court that they had cancelled the grace marks given to 1,563 candidates who took the examination for admission to MBBS and other such courses. They will have the option to either take a retest or forgo the compensatory marks awarded to them for the loss of time, the Centre had said.
The examination was held on May 5 across 4,750 centres and around 24 lakh candidates took it. The results were expected to be declared on June 14 but were announced on June 4, apparently because the evaluation of the answer sheets was completed earlier.
There have been allegations of question paper leaks in states like Bihar and other irregularities in the prestigious exam. The allegations have led to protests in several cities and the filing of petitions in several high courts as well as the Supreme Court. Scores of students protested in Delhi on June 10 seeking a probe into alleged irregularities.
As many as 67 students scored a perfect 720, unprecedented in the NTA's history, with six from a centre in Haryana's Faridabad figuring in the list, raising suspicions about irregularities. It has been alleged that grace marks contributed to 67 students sharing the top rank.
