The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a batch of petitions seeking cancellation and re-test of the NEET-UG 2024 which has been mired in controversy following allegations of irregularities and question paper leak.
A bench comprising Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misr noted that there was no data on record to indicate a systemic leak of question paper and other malpractices.
"There is absence of material to conclude that result of NEET-UG 2024 exam is vitiated or there is systemic breach," it said.
The top court, however, acknowledged that the question paper leak that took place in Hazaribagh and Patna was not in dispute. A report submitted by the Centre showed that an investigation is underway into the alleged irregularities, it said.
Conducting a fresh NEET-UG exam would be replete with serious consequences for over 23 lakh students who appeared for the exam this year, the apex court noted. "Ordering a re-exam will lead to disruption of the academic schedule, causing a cascading effect in the coming years," it said.
The NEET-UG, 2024 was held across 4,750 centres on May 5.
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.
The National Testing Agency (NTA) and the Union education ministry have been at the centre of a massive row after allegations of large-scale malpractices in the NEET-UG exam sparked off students protests across the country.
