NEET-UG 2024 | Undeniable That Paper Leak Happened, Re-Test Necessary If Tainted Candidates Can't Be Segregated & Leak Is Widespread: Supreme Court

While hearing a batch of petitions challenging the NEET-UG 2024 exam, the Supreme Court today posed a volley of questions to the Union Government and the National Testing Agency (NTA) regarding the nature of the paper leak and steps taken to identify the beneficiaries of fraudulent practices.Stating that the occurrence of the paper leak in the NEET-UG exam could not be denied, the Court said that what remained to be ascertained was if the nature of the leak was widespread or isolated, in order to decide the question of ordering a re-test."If we come to the conclusion that the time lag between the leak and the actual exam is limited, that will be a circumstance which will militate against the holding of a re-test," Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud observed."What is the modality in which the leak took place? If the modality of the leak is through electronic means and social media, then there is a possibility that the leak is widespread," CJI added.The Court asked the Union Government and NTA to respond to certain specific queries (detailed below) and posted the matters for further hearing on July 11. It also asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to submit a status report on the investigation into the paper leak cases.Bench identifies certain "red flags"The bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud, Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, while hearing a batch of petitions seeking to cancel the NEET-UG exam held on May 5 (of which results were declared on June 4), identified the following "red-flags" as requiring assessment."If we have to separate the grain from the chaff, we have to identify the red flags. If that is possible, it may be necessary to hold a re-test for that category alone," CJI said.The red-flags cited for the authorities to consider were as under :There is an unprecedentedly high number of students who scored 720/720 marks. How many of those students are the beneficiaries of grace marks?;Students who registered at one centre and changed the exam centre to take the exam at a far-off place and secured high marks;Students who get exceptionally high marks in NEET, but whose performance is not reflected in their Class XII exams (however, the bench acknowledged that students may not study that hard for the board exams too);Students who get exceptionally high marks in one subject, but abysmally low in another subject."One thing which is very clear is that the leak has taken place. That the sanctity of the exam has been breached is beyond doubt. The question is how widespread is the leak," CJI commented.However, SG Tushar Mehta denied that the paper leak itself happened (except at one place) and that it was a matter under investigation. He submitted that Bihar police has issued a clarification that they did not issue any press note, which was cited by the petitioners."Is the case of NTA today that there is no leak? We take it that there is an admitted position that there is a leak. The nature of the leak is the fact we are determining," CJI said.Ordering a re-test for all students a tough taskThe bench observed during the hearing that ordering a re-test for all students would be a tough task and an extreme decision."Before we decide to order a re-test, we must understand what is the nature of leak. Asking 23 lakh students to appear for a re-test is tough. First we would like to know the entire process. Second, the nature of FIRs. Third, the point of time when the leak took place and how the leak disseminated," CJI said.Observations in the orderAfter the hearing, the Court dictated a short order specifying the points on which disclosures are needed from the Union government and/or CBI.The Court said that it will have to scrutinize : (i) Whether the alleged breach has taken place at a systemic level; (ii) whether the breach has affected the integrity of the entire examination process; and (iii) whether it is possible to segregate the beneficiaries of fraud from the untainted students.It was of the view that in a situation where the breach in the sanctity of an examination has affected the entirety of the process, and it is not possible to segregate the beneficiaries of wrongdoing from others, it may be necessary to order a re-examination. On the contrary, if the breach is confined to specific areas and it is possible to identify the wrongdoers, it may not be appropriate to order a re-test, especially in a exam involving 23 lakh students.The Court directed the NTA to make a full disclosure before it on - (i) the nature of the leak, (ii) the places where the leak took place, (iii) the lag of time between the occurrence of the leak and the conduct of the exam. From this perspective, the NTA was directed to clarify - (i) when the leak of the question papers first took place, (ii) the manner in which the question papers were leaked and were disseminated, (iii) the duration between the occurrence of the leak and the actual conduct of the exam.As per the dictated order, the Court should be apprised...

NEET-UG 2024 | Undeniable That Paper Leak Happened, Re-Test Necessary If Tainted Candidates Can't Be Segregated & Leak Is Widespread: Supreme Court

Debby Jain

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