NEET-UG Paper Leak case: Supreme Court lists the matter for hearing on July 11, stating that the consequence of the leak depends on the nature of the leak

In the recent development regarding the NEET-UG controversy, the Supreme Court (SC) bench constituting Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra heard a batch of petitions on July 08, 2024 (yesterday). The bench said that the paper leak in the NEET-UG exam on May 05 could not be denied. It added that to decide the question of ordering a re-test of the NEET-UG exam, the SC would have to determine whether the extent the paper leak was isolated or widespread. The bench said, “The fact that the sanctity of the exam has been compromised is beyond doubt. Now, what is the consequence of that leak would depend on the nature of that leak. If it is not extensive, then there is no cancellation. Before we order a retest, we must be careful. We are dealing with the careers of 23 lakh students.” Along with this, the top court listed certain queries while hearing the matter. The bench sought responses to the following questions from the Union: 

• “Whether the alleged breach has taken place at a systemic level;
• Whether the breach has affected the integrity of the entire examination process; and
• Whether it is possible to segregate the beneficiaries of fraud from the untainted students.”

The information sought from the NTA includes:

• “When did the leak first take place?
• What was the manner in which the question papers leaked were disseminated?
• What was the time duration between the leak and the exam on May 5?”

The SC asked the Union Government and the National Testing Agency (NTA) to respond to the aforementioned queries and posted the matter for hearing on July 11, 2024 (Thursday). Moreover, the Court directed, “We are also of the view that CBI shall file a status report before this court on the status of investigation as of today and material which has come to light till today (July 08).” While hearing the matter, the CJI observed, “We are dealing with the most prestigious branch of study and every middle-class person wants their children to study either medicine or engineering.” He added, “What are we doing to ensure that this will not happen in the future and how are we planning to tighten the exam process? Is there an audit being conducted by the government on what went wrong? Assuming that we are not going to cancel the entire exam, what do we do between today and the date of admissions to identify who are beneficiaries of the fraud? (But firstly), do we cancel the exam or do we allow the counselling to go through by identifying the beneficiaries? On this first aspect, we would like to know from the government on identifying who are the beneficiaries of the wrongdoing.” During the proceedings, Senior Advocate Narender Hooda appeared for the petitioners.