In the transfer petitions submitted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) regarding NEET-UG 2024 cases that are now pending before the Rajasthan High Court, the Supreme Court gave notice today, July 15. Numerous writ petitions contesting the NEET exam were filed before the High Court. But the NTA filed a motion with the Supreme Court requesting that the petitions be added to the backlog of cases that it was already handling.
In relation to the ongoing NEETUG controversy, the bench consisting of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra decided to tag the transfer petitions with the lead case, Vanishika Yadav v. UOI, and give notice in the petitions.
“Issue notice and tag” During the hearing, the CJI gave directions.
The NTA’s counsel, Advocate Vardhaman Kaushik, also asked the court to halt the proceedings before the High Court. The Chief Justice of India explained that the High Courts do not pursue the case further once the Supreme Court issues notice in a Transfer Petition.
Since then, numerous petitions have been submitted before the Supreme Court, claiming that numerous instances of paper leaks were discovered and that numerous irregularities occurred during the statewide examination that NTA conducted on May 5. Following the release of the NEET-UG Results, more appeals were filed against the ‘arbitrary’ grace mark awarding to 1536 candidates due to ‘loss of time,’ allegedly in an attempt to provide ‘back-door admittance’ for specific individuals.
A petition in the batch requests that the NEET-UG 2024 results be recalled and that a new exam be administered. In other petitions, the CBI is asked to look into the alleged irregularities in the exam’s administration. In these cases, notice has been given and a joint hearing has been scheduled.
What Is The Concern Regarding NEET-UG?
On May 17, notice was given in the primary case Vanshika Yadav v. Union of India, which calls for a new NEET UG 2024 exam in light of purported exam malpractices and paper leaks.
Although the Supreme Court declined to postpone the release of the NEET-UG 2024 exam results, the bench, presided over by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, decided to take the case under consideration and scheduled a hearing for July, following the summer break.
“In Transfer, the High Court normally doesn’t proceed”
The following petitions are now pending before the Rajasthan High Court and have notices attached:
1. Durgesh Raj and Ors. v. National Testing Agency T.P.(C) No. 001741 – / 2024
2. Tanuja Yadav T.P.(C) v. National Testing Agency, No. 1735/2024
3. Yashasvini and Ors. v. National Testing Agency T.P.(C) No. 1730/2024
4. W.P.(C) No. 449/2024 – Aarushi Singh v. National Testing Agency and Ors.
5. Anshu Choudhary T.P.(C) v. National Testing Agency, No. 1737/2024
Later, on July 10, the Union refuted any widespread misconduct in the NEET-UG 2024 exam in its affidavit. It stated that the Indian Institute of Technology Madras’ data analytics revealed no anomalies, with the mark distribution following the typical bell-shaped curve of a large-scale exam.
The NTA further claimed that the May 4 Telegram leak of a video purporting to display a picture of the NEET UG exam paper was a hoax. The NTA claims that the timestamp was falsified to provide the appearance of an early disclosure.
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It should be mentioned that the Top Court also sent notice in related transfer petitions that NTA had filed on June 14. The Delhi High Court was the venue for the suspected paper leak involving the NEET and the appeals contesting the grace mark award. Following that, on June 20, the Court tagged the petitions with the main matter and delayed proceedings in cases filed in the High Courts of Rajasthan, Calcutta, and Bombay over the purported paper leak in the NEET-UG 2024 exam.
A case for not holding a new NEET exam has also been filed in the Supreme Court by 56 medical students from Gujarat, who are against the requests to “re-NEET” and to annul the results of the NEET-UG 2024 exam.
Among other things, a different petition claims that NTA officers were involved in the manipulation of the OMR sheets.
The Union Government and NTA were questioned by the Court on July 8 about the nature of the paper leak and the actions taken to identify the people who benefited from fraudulent operations. Declaring that the paper leak in the NEET-UG exam was unavoidable, it went on to say that the only thing left to determine was whether the breach was localized or widespread and whether or not to order a retest.
