SC tags NTA’s transfer petition with the pending pleas; to hear on July 18

These petitions have been filed by many students and various educational institutions. A group of 20 students who had appeared in the medical entrance exam filed a plea in the top court seeking a direction for scrapping the NEET-UG exam and an apex court-monitored probe by the CBI or any other independent agency into the alleged irregularities in the test.

It is to be noted that the NEET-UG examination, conducted by the NTA,  is the process for getting admitted into MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country.

The Centre has recently, in its affidavit filed before the top court, stated that data analytics by IIT Madras showed no mass malpractice in the exam. The NTA told the SC that the video showing the NEET paper peak in the Telegram app was fake.

“Data analysis shows no indication of mass malpractice,” the UOI (Union of India) said in an affidavit. While relying on a report from IIT-Madras to state that data analysis refuted mass malpractices in the exam, the UOI said that the data analysis also showed that no local set of candidates benefitted, leading to abnormal scores in the NEET-UG exam.

It said that an exhaustive technical evaluation of data related to NEET-UG was conducted by the IIT-Madras.

“If an exercise is to be conducted by NTA and by the Union Government so as to identify any further beneficiaries of the question paper leakage, a considered decision at the policy level would have to be taken by the government on the status of the counselling,” the UOI said in its affidavit.

Narrating how it would deal with candidates who indulged in malpractices, the UOI said that for any candidate, if it is found that he or she has been the beneficiary of any malpractice, the candidature of such person would be cancelled at any stage during the counselling process or even afterwards.

It added that steps would be taken hereafter to ensure the sanctity of the NEET so that instances of the kind that have transpired during the course of the present session are not repeated in the future.

“The government is committed to ensuring the sanctity of examinations and protecting the interests of students. To ensure transparency, fairness, and credibility in public examination, Parliament has enacted the Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, on February 12, and an Act was brought into effect on June 21,” the UOI said.