No NEET Re-test: Supreme Court refuses to cancel the NEET-UG 2024, says “Data on record is not indicative of a systemic leak of the question paper”

On July 23, 2024, the Supreme Court (SC) of India refused to cancel the entire NEET-UG 2024 exam stating that no Re-test will be conducted. The bench constituting Chief Justice of India Dy Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra said that the evidence before the court was insufficient to show a widespread leak of the question paper. It observed, “Data on record is not indicative of a systemic leak of the question paper, which would lead to the destruction of the sanctity of the exam…” The top court ordered, “We are of the view that ordering Re-NEET or cancellation of the entire NEET-UG 2024 Exam is not justified on the application of the settled tests propounded by decisions of this court on the basis of the material on record.” During the proceedings, the SC said that ordering a re-exam will lead to serious consequences affecting approximately 23 lakh students. It said, “The court is mindful of the fact directing a fresh exam would have serious consequences on students, including destruction of admission schedule, effects on education, and impact on availability of medical professionals in the future.” 

After hearing the matter, the SC concluded by stating that canceling NEET-UG 2024 is unjustified. It also directed the NTA (National Testing Agency) to revise the test results by treating the option approved by an expert team constituted by the IIT-Delhi as the only correct answer to an ambiguous question. It would affect the scores of over 4 lakh candidates. The bench said “Option 2 and 4 are mutually exclusive and both cannot stand together. We accept the report of the IIT Delhi. Accordingly, NTA shall revise the result of the NEET UG 2024 on the basis of option 4 as extracted above as the only correct answer. We have not indicated the number of the question since the number of the question and the option is likely to vary in view of the procedure which is followed in the exam.” The top court also mentioned that students with individual grievances can approach the High Court after withdrawing their petition from the SC.