The Supreme Court also directed the NTA to mask identity of students while declaring centre-wise results
Representational Image. File Pic
The supreme court on Thursday told the NTA to declare NEET-UG exam centre-wise and city-wise results of NEET-UG 2024 by 12 noon of July 20.
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The top court also directed the NTA to mask identity of students while declaring centre-wise results as hearing was underway on Thursday.
The top court will resume hearing the arguments on July 22 on a batch of pleas seeking cancellation, re-test and a court-monitored probe into the allegations of large-scale malpractices in the prestigious test held on May 5.
During the day long hearing, the court said it prima facie appeared that the question paper leak was limited to Patna and Hazaribagh, and nothing of this sort can be said to have happened in Godhra in Gujarat.
While in Patna and Hazaribagh, the question papers allegedly got leaked, in Godhra there were claims that a person involved in holding the test took money for filling up the OMR sheets of certain candidates.
Questioning the claims about leak of question paper on social media platform 'Telegram', the bench said, "You have to bear in mind that the idea of somebody doing this was not to make a national charade. People did it for money. So, it was not to bring disrepute to the exam and somebody was doing it to make money which is evident. Mass leakage requires contacts also at that level so that you connect to all such key contacts in different cities."
Any order for conducting the NEET-UG 2024 afresh has to be on the concrete footing that the sanctity of the entire exam was affected, the Supreme Court said.
The top court adjourned the cases listed ahead of the NEET-UG pleas and said, "We will open the case today. Lakhs of young students are waiting for this, let us hear and decide."
The bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwla and Manoj Misra asked the petitioners seeking cancellation, re-test and a court-monitored probe into the alleged irregularities to show that the paper leak was "systemic" and affected the entire examination, warranting cancellation.
"Re-examination has to be on concrete footing that the sanctity of the entire test was affected," the CJI said.
The bench said, "The CBI probe is on. If what the CBI has told us is revealed, it will affect the investigation and people will become wise."
As per the PTI report, the bench is hearing more than 40 pleas, including those filed by the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts NEET-UG, seeking transfer of cases pending against it in various high courts regarding the alleged irregularities in the exam to the Supreme Court to avoid multiplicity of litigation.
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