THE JHARKHAND STORY DESK
New Delhi, July 8: While hearing a batch of petitions challenging the NEET-UG 2024 exam, the Supreme Court posed a volley of questions to the Union Government and the National Testing Agency (NTA) regarding the nature of the paper leak and the steps taken to identify the beneficiaries of fraudulent practices, reports Live Law.
Stating that the fact of the paper leak in the NEET-UG exam cannot be denied, the Court said that it has to be ascertained if the nature of the leak was widespread or isolated to decide on 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 the National Testing Agency (NTA) to respond to certain specific queries (detailed below) and posted the matters for further hearing on July 11. The Court 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, hearing a batch of petitions seeking to cancel the NEET-UG exam held on May 5 and the results declared on June 4, identified the following “red flags” in the exam which should be assessed.
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.
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The bench cited the following red flags for the authorities to consider :
- There is an unprecedentedly high number of students who scored 720/720 marks. How many of those students are the beneficiaries of the 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 the NEET, but whose performance is not reflected in their 12th 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 get 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 said, as reported by Live Law.
However, the SG denied that the paper leak itself happened and that it was a matter under investigation. He submitted that Bihar police has issued a clarification that they have not issued 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 the entire students a tough task
The bench observed during the hearing that ordering a re-test for the entire students is a tough task.
“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,” CJI said.
Observations in the order
After the hearing, the Court dictated a short order specifying the points on which disclosures are needed. I
The Court said that it will have to scrutinise : (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; (iii) whether it is possible to segregate the beneficiaries of fraud from the untainted students.
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 observed.
The Court directed the NTA to make a full disclosure before the Court 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.
The Court should be apprised of the – (i) steps taken by NTA to identify centres/cities in which the leak took place, (ii) modalities followed to identify the beneficiaries of the leak, (iii) the number of students who have been so far identified.
The Court also asked the Union/NTA whether it was feasible to use the data analytics, either within the cyber forensic unit or any other expert agency to identify the suspect cases. If this is possible, authorities shall identify the modalities which can be followed to segregate the tainted from the untainted.
The Court also asked the Union/NTA to inform about the status of counselling, as reported by Live Law.
The Court also expressed concerns about steps to be taken in future to ensure the sanctity of the NEET so that such instances are not repeated in the future.
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Arguments of the petitioners
The bench first heard the petitions which sought the cancellation of the NEET-UG 2024 exam held on May 5 and the results declared on June 4 on the ground that the exam’s sanctity has been vitiated by widespread instances of paper-leak, unfair means and impersonation.
The counsel appearing for the petitioner argued that the Bihar police has arrested persons involved in leaking the question papers through Telegram app.
The unprecedented fact that 67 candidates got 100% marks in the exam was also flagged by the petitioners.
Reference was made to precedents which hold that if there are faults at a systemic level and if it was impossible to segregate tainted and untainted candidates, then the entire exam has to be set aside. The identification of the beneficiaries of the fraud cannot be ascertained exactly. The counsel submitted that according to the Bihar police, the NTA has not followed the standard SOP, indicating a systemic fault and a large-scale fraud. The NTA also says it cannot be sure at this stage whether it was a fault at a systemic level and was not aware of the sweep of the fraud. At the same time, the NTA is saying that the fraud is at a “minuscule” level. The counsel submitted that this indicated the contradictory stances adopted by the NTA.
In an attempt to highlight the largescale nature of the irregularities, the counsel submitted that there are 6 FIRs registered in Bihar, Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Jharkhand in relation to the NEET scam.
“So the fact that there was a paper leak is admitted?,” CJI asked at this juncture. Then the Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta stated that in Bihar, the students who indulged in the scam have been identified and their results are withheld.
What is there to indicate that the malaise affected the entire exam? Bench asks.
“To formulate your point, entire credibility of exam is lost and it is not possible to segregate tainted from untainted. What is the factual foundation for this?,” CJI asked the petitioners. In response, the counsel referred to the police FIRs and the press release issued by the Bihar police which blamed the NTA for not following the SOP.
“But does it indicate that it was a malaise affecting the entire exam?” Chief Justice of India asked. The petitioner replied that the question papers were being circulated in the Telegram channel on May 3 and 4, ahead of the exam, as reported by Live Law.
The bench at this juncture asked the NTA about the number of candidates, the number of exam centres and the manner of sending the question papers to the centres. The NTA’s counsel replied that 23,33,297 students attended the exam in over 4751 centres in 571 cities.
The Court then asked the NTA specific queries on how the question papers were prepared, when they were sent to the printing presses, how they were taken to the exam centres etc.
The Central Government and the National Testing Agency have filed affidavits before the Court opposing the demand to cancel the exam. They have told the Court that the instances of alleged malpractices are isolated and do not warrant the scrapping of the entire exam jeopardising the future of lakhs of honest students.
What Is The NEET-UG Matter About?
Notice was issued on May 17 in the lead petition titled ‘Vanshika Yadav v. Union of India’ which had sought NEET UG exams to be conducted afresh in light of the alleged malpractices and paper leak of the exam.
While the Top Court refused to grant a stay on the results of the NEET-UG 2024 exam, the bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud agreed to consider the matter and posted it for hearing after the summer vacation (in July).
Several petitions have been filed before the Top Court alleging that the nationwide examination held on May 5 by the National Testing Agency (NTA) was riddled with malpractices as various instances of paper leaks came to light. Subsequent to the declaration of the NEET-UG Results, additional pleas were also raised against the ‘arbitrary’ grant of grace marks to 1536 candidates on grounds of ‘loss of time’ purportedly to give ‘back-door entry’ to certain individuals.
One of the petitions also seeks to recall the NEET-UG 2024 results & the conduct of a fresh examination. Additional petitions were also filed which sought CBI investigation into the alleged malpractices in the conduct of the examination. Notice was issued in these matters and tagged together for a combined hearing on July 8.
Opposing the calls for ‘Re-NEET’ and cancelling the results of the NEET-UG 2024 examination, a petition has also been filed by 56 Gujarat-based medical students in the Supreme Court for not re-conducting NEET afresh, reports Live Law.
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Key Developments During Hearing By The Vacation Bench
When the petitions came up for hearing before the Vacation Bench, the Court on multiple occasions verbally stressed the need for NTA to accept accountability if there have been any mistakes on its part. The Court also observed that it was imperative for NTA to efficiently answer the Court considering how the ‘sanctity’ of the NEET-UG Examinations has been affected.
The Top Court on June 21 refused to stay counselling process for medical admissions and clarified that any such admissions will be subject to the outcome of the pending petitions. On July 5, the NTA and the Centre informed the Court that they were not in favour of cancelling the exam in its entirety.
It may be noted that on June 22, the Ministry of Education constituted a high-level committee of experts to make recommendations on ‘Reform in the mechanism of the examination process, improvement in Data Security protocols and structure and functioning of NTA’. The Expert Committee will be chaired by Former ISRO Chairman Dr K Radhakrishnan. (Courtesy: Live Law)
