No systemic breach in sanctity of NEET-UG: SC

There is no evidence to conclude that the entire result of NEETUG 2024 was vitiated and there was a systemic breach in the sanctity of the examination the Supreme Court has said while trashing pleas for retest on grounds of paper leak and other malpracticesOn July 23 the top court dismissed the pleas seeking cancellation and retest of the controversyridden exam and the order was uploaded on Wednesday nightAt the present stage there is an absence of material on the record to lead to the conclusion that the entire result of the examination stands vitiated or that there was a systemic breach in the sanctity of the examination said the 14page interim order penned by Chief Justice D Y ChandrachudThe detailed and reasoned judgement on as many as 40 petitions would be delivered laterThe bench also comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said The data which has been produced on the record citywise and centrewise and the comparison of data for the years 2022 2023 and 2024 are not indicative of a systemic leak of the question paper impacting the sanctity of the examination It said ordering a retest this year would be replete with serious consequences for over two million students who have appeared in the examination The order said adopting such a course of action would lead to a disruption of admission schedule setting back the entire process by several months and would lead to a cascading effect on the course of medical educationIt said the order of retest would also impact the availability of qualified medical professionals in the future and cause a serious element of disadvantage to students belonging to marginalized communities and weaker sections for whom reservation has been made in the allocation of seats The top court also asked the National Testing Agency NTA to revise its merit list by treating the answer suggested by a panel of three experts of IIT Delhi to a controversial physics question as correctIt scrutinised issues like whether the alleged breach took place at a systemic level and if the breach was of a nature which affected the integrity of the entire examination processIt also examined whether it was possible to segregate beneficiaries of the fraud from the untainted studentsAs per earlier judgements a retest can be ordered if segregation of beneficiaries of fraud from genuinely successful candidates is not possibleIt said an interim order was needed for providing certainty and finality to a dispute which affected the careers of over two million studentsThe fact that a leak of the NEET UG 2024 paper took place at Hazaribagh in the state of Jharkhand and at Patna in the state of Bihar is not in dispute the order saidReferring to the Central Bureau of Investigations CBI status report the order said the probe is continuing and as per the evidence which emerged during the probe so far there were about 155 students who took up tests at examination centres in Hazaribagh and Patna are prima facie beneficiaries of the fraudWhile refusing to order a retest the bench said it was guided by the wellsettled test of whether it is possible to segregate tainted students from those whose candidature does not suffer from any taintIf the investigation reveals the involvement of an increased number of beneficiaries over and above those who are suspects at the present stage action shall be pursued against every student found to be involved in wrongdoing at any stage notwithstanding the completion of the counselling process it saidNo student who is revealed to have engaged in fraud would be entitled to claim a vested right in continuation of the admission in the future by virtue of the findings in this judgment it saidIt took note of the submissions of the Centre that it has constituted a sevenmember expert committee chaired by K Radhakrishnan former Chairman ISRO to suggest measures to strengthen the examination mechanism to ensure fair playThe Committee will abide by such further directions as may be issued by this Court in its final judgment and order in regard to the areas which should be enquired into by it so as to ensure that i the process of conducting the NEET UG and other examinations falling within the remit of the NTA is duly strengthened and ii the instances which came to light during the course of the present year are not repeated in the future it saidDoubts about the sanctity of the exam arose when a total of 67 students scored a perfect 720 unprecedented in the NTAs history with six from a Haryana centre figuring in the listThe number of candidates sharing the top rank came down to 61 from 67 after the NTA announced the revised results on July 1Over 23 lakh students took the National EligibilitycumEntrance TestUndergraduate NEETUG in 2024 for admissions to MBBS BDS AYUSH and other related coursesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the 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