The Supreme Court has issued notice to the Center, NTA and others on a petition seeking a CBI inquiry into the alleged irregularities in the controversial NEET UG exam and asked them to respond within two weeks. The petition claiming NEET paper leak has demanded that the matter should be investigated by CBSE. The petition seeking a CBI inquiry into the allegations of irregularities in NEET-UG 2024 will be heard on July 8.
Apart from this, the Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to private parties on the petition of the National Examination Agency (NTA) requesting to transfer the cases pending in various High Courts on the NEET-UG dispute to the apex court. The vacation bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta took cognizance of the argument of the National Examination Agency (NTA) counsel that several petitions are pending in various High Courts seeking cancellation of the 'National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Graduate' (NEET-UG), 2024 on allegations of question paper leak and other irregularities. The bench ordered the issuance of notice and said that it will be heard on July 8.
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Meanwhile, the NTA said it wants to withdraw three other petitions seeking transfer of the cases from the high courts to the Supreme Court as they relate to the grant of grace marks to 1,563 candidates on the ground of loss of time during the examination on May 5. The NTA counsel said the issue has been settled and it will inform the high court about the apex court's order of June 13 cancelling the grace marks given to 1,563 candidates.
Medical admissions will be subject to the decision on petitions seeking cancellation of exams
With the cancellation of grace marks by NTA on Thursday, the objections related to grace marks were settled. But many candidates have filed petitions in the Supreme Court and several High Courts demanding cancellation of the exam, alleging paper leak. The Supreme Court clarified on Thursday that the admission of successful candidates will be subject to the final decision on the petitions demanding cancellation of the exam.
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After three notices, NTA sent an incomplete reply to EOU
It is clear that the NEET controversy is not over yet with the removal of grace marks. There is a possibility of cancellation of the paper. NTA and the Ministry of Education say that the paper has not been leaked. The alleged NEET paper leak case in Bihar is being investigated by the EOU (Economic Offences Unit) in the state. The EOU had sought many facts related to this case from the National Testing Council (NTA), the agency conducting NEET. After issuing notices three times from the investigating agency level and seeking information, NTA sent its reply through e-mail on Wednesday night. However, this too is incomplete. It contains only the names of some candidates, roll numbers and some other information related to it. Even now the investigating agency has not received answers to many basic questions, with the help of which the investigation can be given a decisive direction and the original source of the question paper leak can be reached. In the investigation done so far in the entire matter, it has come to light that after the NEET question paper was leaked from a state outside Bihar, the setters here distributed it among their selected people. During this time, this question paper was leaked and went viral on WhatsApp. EOU is waiting for NTA's reply. EOU suspects that the gang that leaked the question paper also includes setters from other states including UP and Delhi. Out of the 13 accused arrested in this case so far, 12 have been interrogated.
Grace marks cancelled
Amid the growing controversy over the NEET-UG exam, the NTA on Thursday told the Supreme Court that the decision to give grace marks to 1,563 candidates of NEET-UG, 2024, conducted for admission to various medical courses including MBBS and BDS, has been revoked and they will get the option to take the re-exam on June 23. The exam was held on May 5 at 4,750 centers and about 24 lakh candidates appeared in it. The result was expected to be declared on June 14, but the results were declared on June 4.
Due to allegations of irregularities, protests were held in many cities and cases were filed in seven high courts and the Supreme Court of the country. On June 10, a large number of students demonstrated in Delhi and demanded an inquiry into the alleged rigging.
