NEET-UG row: SC to pronounce detailed judgment on Friday

NEW DELHI — The Supreme Court will, on Friday, pronounce its judgment containing detailed reasons for not cancelling the NEET-UG 2024 exam amid the allegation of paper leak and other irregularities. 

As per the causelist published on the website of the apex court, a bench, headed by CJI D.Y. Chandrachud and comprising Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, will deliver its verdict on August 2.

On July 23, referring to the data analytics undertaken by IIT Madras and other statistics placed on record, the top court refused to order a re-test and observed that there was no systematic leak of the NEET-UG question paper.

The SC had said that it was mindful of the fact that directing a fresh exam would be replete with serious consequences for over 2 million students who had appeared for the NEET-UG exam on May 5. It clarified that its judgment won’t prevent authorities from taking action against candidates who had secured admission using malpractices.

It also asked the National Testing Agency (NTA) to re-tally the marks afresh in view of the opinion rendered by the expert panel of IIT Delhi in respect of a contentious physics question, saying that two options cannot be treated as the correct answers to a question.

In an earlier hearing, the SC had asked the Director of IIT Delhi to constitute a team of three experts to formulate its opinion on the correct option.

During the hearing on pleas seeking cancellation of the NEET-UG, a petitioner pointed out that as many as 44 candidates were able to secure full marks on account of the ambiguous question, and questioned the NTA’s decision to award compensatory marks in violation of its own instructions asking students to follow the latest NCERT textbook.