The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Under Graduate) test (NEET UG), which was held on May 5, should not be canceled, the Central government informed the Supreme Court on Friday, citing the lack of evidence of a significant breach of exam confidentially.
The proposal was submitted in the middle of a wave of accusations about malpractices, widespread question paper leaks, and cheating around the NEET UG exam.
The Central government’s Ministry of Education said in an application submitted to the top court on Friday that it would be illogical to cancel the NEET UG exam and hold a new one.
“In the absence of any proof of any large-scale breach of confidentiality in a pan-India examination, it would not be rational to scrap the entire examination and the results already declared. It is submitted that in any examination, there are competing rights that have been created whereby the interests of a large number of students who have taken the examination without adopting any alleged unfair means must not also be jeopardized,” the affidavit said.
The affidavit was submitted in response to numerous petitions that claimed irregularities, such as question paper leaks, occurred during the NEET UG.
On July 8, the matter is scheduled to be heard by a bench consisting of Justice JB Pardiwala, Justice Manoj Misra, and CJI DY Chandrachud.
The Court’s main investigation will focus on whether the exam was tampered with on May 5 and whether another exam is required.
The Center has maintained that thousands of truthful applicants who took the test in 2024 would be gravely endangered if the exam were completely scrapped.
The government made it clear that it is not approaching the current legal dispute in an adversarial fashion and that it “fully appreciates” the worries raised by the applicants who took the NEET UG 2024 exam.
“Union of India in a matter such as the present one, has adopted a solution-oriented approach,” the statement read.
In this regard, the affidavit made clear that the Central Bureau of inquiry (CBI) has been directed by the government to conduct a thorough inquiry into claims of impersonation, cheating, and malpractice.
The administration also announced the formation of a high-level committee to recommend policies for the efficient, seamless, and open administration of exams by the National Testing Agency.
The Union government also stated that the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, a law addressing cheating and paper leaks in public exams, went into effect on June 21.
In a related approach, the National Testing Agency (NTA) also filed an affidavit.
The NTA argued that postponing the exam would be against the interests of the general public and that malpractices were limited to the Patna and Godhra centers, with individual cases having no connection to the malpractices referenced in the pleas.
It is also mentioned that the NTA’s data analysis has shown that the individual malpractices have no bearing on the sanctity of the exam.
The NTA was ordered by the Supreme Court to reply to the plea raising claims of a NEET UG paper leak on June 11. Additionally, the highest court had said that it would not discontinue counseling applicants to medical colleges.
According to media reports, a remarkable proportion of candidates received a flawless score based on the results that were released on June 4.
The candidates have claimed that there are anomalies in the way that students are given credits to make up for lost time.
