Supreme Court Seeks Disclosure on Paper Leak:

The Supreme Court of India has demanded that the National Testing Agency (NTA) disclose detailed information regarding the alleged paper leak of the NEET-UG 2024 exam. Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, heading the bench, stated that the leak of exam papers is now an admitted fact and has asked for proof to determine whether it compromised the entire exam. The matter has been scheduled for the next hearing on July 11.

Allegations and Government's Stance:

Allegations of irregularities including paper leeks and discrepancies in awarding grace marks were leveled against the NEET-UG 2024 exam that was conducted on May 5. The government and NTA have disagreed over cancelling the exams citing no proof of large scale breaches, nevertheless, the Supreme Court insists on thorough investigation. On 4th June, the results were released earlier than anticipated and the announcement caused suspicions because there were sixty seven students who were awarded full marks.

Demands for Re-Test:

The students and organizations demand for a re-test, and there have been mass protests in response to the accusations. Many students noted that the high scorers tended to come from certain areas or centers, implying that some regions may have had leaks. Having done this, NTA also withdrew the grace marks from 1,563 candidates and left it up to them either to register afresh or keep off the compensatory marks.

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Supreme Court's Position:

Chief Justice Chandrachud said that with apps such as Telegram and WhatsApp, one can easily spread leaked papers within a short time. He added that a re-test should be done if it is proved that there was cheating during the NEET-UG 2024 exam. The Court’s asking NTA for more information shows how serious these claims are as well as the need for transparency in the examination process.

Supreme Court's Directions to NTA:

Timeline and Dissemination: The court ordered the NTA to reveal the timeline, dissemination process as well as how the papers were circulated on May 5th before the exam.
CBI Investigation: The investigation into the leak is being carried out by The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) who shall submit the progress report in this court.

Identification of Beneficiaries: The NTA is required to elaborate on its system of identifying those who might have unfairly profited from this leakage of examination materials by stating the various centers which have been affected and providing figures showing how many students were involved.

Use of Data Analytics: In order to discern fraudulent transactions while safeguarding innocent candidates, it was suggested in court that data analytics be applied.

Preventive Measures: Preventing future incidents like this required forming an exam security oversight committee through multi-disciplinary approach as proposed by the court which would provide more information about the committee’s structure and functions.

Conclusion:

The verdict by the Supreme Court regarding NEET-UG 2024 exam row is very important in maintaining honesty and fairness of this medical entrance exam. The future steps to be taken over reported anomalies and re-testing requests will be largely determined by the resolutions of this case on July 11th.

#WATCH | On the Supreme Court's hearing on the NEET-UG 2024 exam, Advocate Shwetank says, "The Supreme Court has raised some questions which have to be answered by the NTA and Union Government. Supreme Court has asked them to provide the data within the next three days...How the… pic.twitter.com/25eAyMjQiL
— ANI (@ANI) July 8, 2024