The Supreme Court will hear pleas challenging the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test – undergraduate results next week, on July 18. The apex court was scheduled to hear the case on Thursday.
The apex court heard pleas demanding a retest of NEET-UG 2024 examinations on Monday and directed the Centre and National Testing Agency to file responses on the extent of the question paper leak.
The SC had observed that a question paper leak has in fact taken place and a retest will be ordered considering the extent of the leak and if guilty are not identified. The SC also directed NTA to make full disclosure regarding the paper leak.
The Centre and NTA filed their responses on Wednesday and argued against ordering a retest. The Centre in its response ruled out any mass malpractice. It said the data analytics of results of NEET-UG 2024 was conducted by IIT-Madras and as per the findings given by the experts, the marks distribution follows the bell-shaped curve that is witnessed in any large-scale examination indicating no abnormality. There was also no localised set of candidates being benefitted leading to abnormal scores in NEET-UG 2024, the Centre said in the affidavit.
The NTA also in its affidavit said there seems to be “no extraneous factor, which would influence the distribution of marks”.
The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) is conducted by the NTA for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country. Allegations of irregularities, including paper leaks, have led to protests in several cities and sparring between rival political parties.
A total of 67 students had scored a perfect 720, unprecedented in the NTA's history, with six from a Haryana centre figuring in the list, raising suspicions about irregularities in the examination. It has been alleged that grace marks contributed to the 67 students sharing the top rank.
The number of candidates sharing the top rank in the NEET-UG was reduced to 61 from 67 as the NTA announced the revised results on July 1.
