Supreme Court on NEET Judgement – Check NEET 2024 Hearing Latest News

NEET 2024 SC Hearing On July 11, 2024, the Supreme Court postponed hearing complaints claiming irregularities in the conduct of this year’s National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate) to July 18. The case was deferred after the CJI DY Chandrachud-led bench noted that some of the parties had not received the affidavits produced by the Centre and the National Testing Agency (NTA) and that they needed to consider the responses before making arguments.

The Apex court of India, Supreme Court, heard the petition regarding the irregularities in NEET UG 2024 exam on July 08. Many important directions were given by the Hon’ble SC on July 08 NEET Judgement was taken, Signaling that there is certainty that the medical entrance exam has been compromised, the Supreme Court stated that a re-test would depend on the level of the leak. Check all the latest updates regarding the Supreme Court NEET Judgement 2024 below.

NEET 2024 SC Hearing Defers Till July 18 As Petitioners Seek More Time

NEET UG 2024 SC Hearing Adjoured

The CJI-led bench postponed the NEET SC Heatrng Adjoured on Thursday (July 11) after noting that some of the parties had not received the affidavits filed by the Union government and the National Testing Agency (NTA) by July 18. The bench was hearing petitions alleging irregularities and malpractices during the May 5 test and requesting a re-test of the exam. However, certain parties have not received the affidavits prepared by the Centre and the National Testing Agency (NTA), and they must study the responses before presenting arguments.

The bench chaired by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud initially proposed listing the matters on July 15. The other two judges on the panel are Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra. However, on July 15 and 16, India’s Solicitor General Tushar Mehta cited a personal hardship. Because July 17 was a holiday, the Supreme Court rescheduled the NEET judgment for July 18.

What happened in NEET 2024 SC Hearing on July 11?

During the brief hearing on July 11, the court stated that it had received a status report from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the progress of the investigation into suspected anomalies in the conduct of NEET-UG 2024.
In an additional affidavit filed in the apex court on Wednesday, the Centre stated that IIT Madras conducted data analytics of the NEET-UG 2024 results and discovered no evidence of “mass malpractice” or a localized set of candidates benefiting from it and scoring abnormally high marks.

According to the Centre’s new affidavit, specialists from IIT Madras discovered that the marks distribution matches the bell-shaped curve seen in any large-scale examination, showing no abnormalities. A bell curve represents the shape of data that follows a normal distribution.

NEET 2024 SC Hearing Latest News

Join the discussion to know the outcome of the NEET 2024 SC Hearing on July 11.

What Happened in the last NEET 2024 Hearing?

A three-judge bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud and other two Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra heard the petitions filed by several students and coaching institutes against the NEET UG 2024 result. In July 08 hearing, the SC said that, “it is clear that leak of NEET UG question paper has taken place. We want to know number of beneficiaries of question paper leak, what action has been taken against them.”

The Hon’ble CJI DY Chandrachud said that, “it is acknowledged that there has been a paper leak, and there is no question that the exam’s integrity has been affected”. The integrity of various national-level entrance exams administered by the National Testing Agency (NTA), such as NEET UG, is being doubted due to accusations of leaked papers and other fraudulent activities.

Supreme Court Judgement on NEET 2024: July 08 Directions

After listening to complaints about suspected misconduct in the organization of the NEET UG 2024 exam, the Supreme Court instructed the National Testing Agency (NTA) to reveal details about three specific areas – the initial occurrence of the paper leak, how the question papers were distributed, and the time gap between the leak and the exam.

In July 08 hearing, the Supreme Court requested a status report from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) regarding the NEET UG exam and it directed the National Testing Agency (NTA) and Center to file their affidavits with all the data up to 5 PM by July 10. The Supreme Court adjourned the hearing to July 11, 2024, after giving these directions.

Supreme Court NEET Judgement 2024

The CJI Chandrachud dictated the following orders during July 08 hearing on the NEET UG 2024 exam and gave important directions to CBI, NTA and the Centre, which has already been discussed above.

1. It will have to scrutinise whether the breach of the question paper has affected the entire examination process and whether it’s possible to identify those tainted from untainted.

2. In a situation where segregation is not possible, it may be necessary to order a reexamination. However, if the breach is confined to specific areas or centres, it may not be appropriate to order a retest, especially since 23 lakh students are involved.

Supreme Court Judgement on NEET UG 2024: Important Observations by SC

The important observations made by the SC on July 08 hearing is given below.

• If the delay is extensive, the problem is widespread throughout the system, but if the issue is limited, it would weaken the argument for a re-test, according to the Chief Justice of India.
• The CJI further said, “We need to find out if the sanctity of the exam is lost or if we are unable to identify tainted candidates. We are dealing with 23 lakh students…it will be far fetched to assume a substantial no are involved in fraud.”
• The Supreme Court mandated that the manner of the leak must be disclosed. If social media was the method used, the likelihood of a leak of the paper is very high. The SC said, “We are flagging these issues as we need a comprehensive timeline. If leak is happening through Telegram, it will spread like wildfire.”
• CJI DY Chandrachud said, “The fact that integrity of examination is compromised is beyond doubt…what needs to be seen is only the extent”. He further added,  “It is an admitted fact there is a leak. The nature of the leak is what we are considering. The leak cannot be disputed. The consequences of it is what we are considering”.

CJI DY Chandrachud Questions NTA During SC NEET Judgement 2024

The Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud asked a slew of questions to NTA regarding the irregularities in NEET UG 2024 exam. The NTA

• When were the question papers prepared?
• When did the NTA receive these question papers?
• How were the papers secured during their custody?
• When did the NTA dispatch the papers to the designated banks in the cities?
• Which printing press was used and what were the transportation arrangements?

NEET UG 2024 SC Hearing: Directions to NTA

The Supreme Court of India instructed NTA to submit a report detailing the following:

• Actions taken to identify the centers or cities where the leak occurred.
• The procedures followed to pinpoint these locations.
• The number of students identified as beneficiaries thus far.

The responsibility of investigating if data analytics may be used to differentiate between students who are tainted and those who are not is assigned to the Union and NTA. If feasible, they have to describe how this differentiation was made. The court suggests creating a multidisciplinary team to supervise these initiatives and voiced concern about what would be done in the future to maintain NEET’s integrity.

Supreme Court NEET Judgement 2024: Petitioners Concerns

The Senior Advocate Narender Hooda represented the concerns of petitioners in the court.

• Senior Advocate Narender Hooda revealed that a Telegram channel leaked the NEET-UG questions and answers one day prior to the examination.
• Hooda claimed that there is an inconsistency in the NEET scores because it is the first instance where 67 students scored 100% in a very competitive exam. He mentioned that there were merely three toppers in 2021.
• Senior Advocate Hooda stated that if the exam’s integrity was compromised at a systemic level or if it was impossible to separate fraudulent beneficiaries from legitimate ones, the Supreme Court mandated a re-examination in all three scenarios.
• Mr. Hooda referenced the Bihar Police statement, which suggested a widespread systemic issue. The NTA affidavit mentioned that it is currently unknown whether there was a systemic fault or not. In an additional paragraph, Hooda noted that the agency had stated the incident occurred on a very small scale.

Supreme Court NEET 2024 Hearing: NTA’s Defense in Court

The NTA has reiterated the centre’s view and told the court that cancellation NEET UG 2024 exam will prove to be counterproductive. Reiterating the Center’s position, the NTA claimed that canceling the exam in its whole would be extremely “counterproductive” and seriously “harmful to larger public interest,” particularly with regard to the career prospects of the qualified candidates.

The allegation of “mass malpractice” during the exam is “completely unfounded, misleading, and lacks any basis,” according to an affidavit from the National Testing Agency (NTA). Regarding the grace marks and irregularities, the NTA’s representative pointed out the following:

• According to senior advocate Naresh Kaushik representing NTA, 6 out of 67 students received perfect scores in the retest despite not achieving 100 percent due to the inclusion of grace marks.

NEET Judgement 2024- Centre’s Stand

The Centre has shown its stand by citing that they do not want the conduction of NEET exam again. The Ministry of Education in an affidavit on July 04 stated that there is no proof of any “large-scale breach of confidentiality”.

The affidavit further said it would not be “rational to scrap the entire examination”, especially after the results have already been declared. Doing so would jeopardise the interest of “lakhs of honest candidates who attempted the question paper in 2024”.

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