The Supreme Court on Monday requested a report from the CBI on the NEET-UG question paper leak investigation, due by Wednesday. Over 23 lakh students who took the exam on May 5 were assured that a retest would be considered only if the beneficiaries of the leak couldn’t be identified and the exam’s integrity was entirely compromised.
A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra reviewed over 50 petitions from candidates. These candidates, represented by lead counsel Narender Hooda, sought the cancellation of NEET-UG due to the paper leak first detected in Patna and other irregularities reported from various states, arguing that the entire exam was tainted as the questions and answers were circulated on social media.
The bench specified that a retest could be ordered only if three conditions were met: the paper leak was systemic, it compromised the entire test’s sanctity and integrity, and it was impossible to identify and separate the fraud beneficiaries from the untainted candidates.
However, the bench emphasized that it would not order a retest if the breach was confined to specific centers and if it was possible to identify and segregate beneficiaries.
67 candidates receive full marks, which surprised SC. It should not result in the cancellation of NEET-UG, given the massive scale on which it is conducted at 4,750 centres in 571 cities across India and 14 cities abroad, involving more than 23 lakh students who have studied hard, spent money, and will have to take a new test, according to the bench.
Every year, around 23-24 lakh students fight for 1.08 lakh MBBS places at various medical colleges, including 56,000 government-run institutions.
Posting the matters for further hearing on Thursday, the CJI-led bench said it may order a fresh test if the CBI status report fulfils the three parameters and after they have gone through the responses of the National Testing Agency and the Centre on the entire gamut of questions relating to the manner and mechanism of conducting the exam – right from the framing of question papers by a group of experts selected by NTA to their safe custody until distribution at the test centers. The NTA and the Centre must submit their responses by 5 p.m. Wednesday.
The bench noted the significant increase in candidates scoring full marks—from seven in previous years to 67 this year. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta was asked if the cyber forensic unit of the home ministry could use data analytics to scrutinize the answer sheets of suspiciously high-scoring candidates to determine the spread of irregularities.
Mehta responded that the government was prepared to disclose all material but insisted that the irregularities and paper leak were localized incidents that did not compromise the exam’s integrity nationwide.
The bench also directed NTA’s counsel, Naresh Kaushik, to report the actions taken against those identified as beneficiaries of the irregularities. Additionally, the NTA was asked to provide information on the paper leak’s nature, locations, time gap between the leak and the actual exam, and the spread and dissemination of the leaked paper through social media.
It also ordered NTA to provide information about the nature of the paper leak, the locations where the breach occurred, the time gap between the leak and the actual conduct of the examination on May 5, the manner and spread of the leak, and the dissemination of the question paper via social media. The CBI must incorporate the findings of its probe into all of these areas, the Supreme Court stated, while also requesting that the NTA clarify the methods taken to identify the beneficiaries of the fraud and the procedures used to schedule retests for 1,563 candidates.
To prevent such incidents in future NEET-UG and other competitive exams, the bench suggested forming a multi-disciplinary committee comprising members with public confidence to establish procedures and processes. If such a committee already exists, the government must provide full details of its members’ credentials, allowing the court to modify its composition to include experts in administration, the relevant domain, and data analytics to ensure exam integrity.
“If such a committee is already set up by the govt, full details of their credentials would be made available so that the court can modify the composition to bring together talents in the field of administration, experts in the domain and data analytics to ensure integrity of examinations,” the bench stated.
