SC commences hearing on pleas related to row over NEET-UG

PTI, Jul 22, 2024, 11:57 AM IST

The Supreme Court on Monday commenced hearing on a batch of petitions related to the controversy-ridden medical entrance exam, NEET-UG 2024.
The top court was told by a counsel for NEET-UG aspirants that the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts the prestigious exam, has admitted to paper leak and the dissemination of the leaked question paper’ through WhatsApp.

At the outset, the bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwla and Manoj Misra asked the counsel for the parties as to what emerged from the declaration of the centre-wise and city-wise results of the exam.

The hearing is underway.
An analysis of results released by NTA on Saturday indicated that the candidates who allegedly benefitted from the paper leak and other irregularities did not do well. Some centres, however, showed high concentration of well-performing students, it revealed.
The voluminous data of over 32 lakh candidates from 4,750 centres was not released in a cumulative format but in a drop-down menu for each centre. The data was released on the direction of the Supreme Court which is hearing several petitions over the alleged irregularities as lakhs of aspirants await a final verdict on the fate of the exam.

The performance of the candidates from the centres under the scanner — such as Oasis School, Hazaribagh, Jharkhand, Hardayal Public School, Jhajjar, Haryana, Jay Jalaram International School in Godhra, Gujarat — were comparatively much below par.