No doubt NEET-UG was compromised; says SC as it asks NTA about candidates benefited from paper leak

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday said that there is no doubt that the NEET-UG held on May 5 was compromised by a question paper leak and asked the National Testing Agency (NTA) to apprise it about the steps taken to identify the candidates who were benefited from the paper leak.

A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra also asked NTA to inform about the steps taken by it to identify the centres/cities where leak of paper took place and modalities followed to identify beneficiaries of the leak and how the leak was disseminated.

Saying that the fact of the paper leak in the NEET-UG exam cannot be denied, the bench observed that it has to be ascertained if the nature of the leak was widespread or isolated to decide on ordering a re-test.

"The fact that sanctity of exam has been compromised is beyond doubt. It is an admitted fact that there is a leak and the nature of the leak is something that we are determining. If it is not extensive then there is no cancellation. But before we order a retest, we must be conscious of the extent of the leak as we are dealing with 23 lakh students...," said the bench.

"So what is the nature of leak, how was the leak, the time, how was the leak disseminated, what are the actions which Centre and NTA has taken to identify the beneficiary students of the wrongdoing," said the CJI.

The apex court also said that if the leak was on social media, then it would have been very widespread.

It asked the testing agency, NTA, when the paper leak first took place, the manner in which the question papers leaked were disseminated, and the time duration between the occurrence of the leak and the exam on May 5.

The apex court also sought a status report from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the probe it has made so far into the alleged paper leak and material which has come to light till date.

The apex court said it will have to be scrutinised whether an alleged breach has taken place at the systemic level, whether the breach has affected the integrity of the entire exam process, and whether it's possible to segregate beneficiaries of fraud from untainted students.

In a situation where a breach affects the entirety of the process and it's not possible to segregate beneficiaries from others, it may be necessary to order a re-test, it said.

Where the breach is confined to specific centres and it's possible to identify beneficiaries of wrongdoing, it may not be proper to order re-test such an exam, which has been conducted on massive scale, it added.

The top court asked CBI to file a status report and Centre and NTA their affidavits with all the details by 5 pm on July 10. The case will be heard next on July 11.

The apex court was hearing a batch of pleas seeking direction to recall NEET-UG 2024 results and to conduct the examination afresh, alleging paper leakage and malpractices in the test held.

Aspirants had approached the top court and raised the issue of leakage of question paper, awarding compensatory marks and anomaly in the question of NEET-UG.

NEET-UG examination, conducted by NTA, is the pathway for admissions into MBBS, BDS and AYUSH and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country.

The NEET-UG, 2024 was held across 4,750 centres on May 5 and around 24 lakh candidates appeared in it.