The central government told the Supreme Court that scrapping the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2024 examination would not be a rational step in view of the absence of proof of a large-scale breach of confidentiality of the exam.
The Centre added that such a move could ‘seriously jeopardise’ lakhs of honest candidates who attempted the questions.
The submission was made amidst the pan-India medical entrance examination being caught in controversy over allegations of malpractices, mass question paper leaks, and cheating.
In its affidavit submitted on Friday in response to a batch of petitions filed by candidates, coaching institutes, and parents of the NEET-UG aspirants, the Union Education Ministry said that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has been asked to conduct a comprehensive probe into alleged irregularities in conducting the exam last month.
“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,” the Centre stated in its affidavit.
The Centre added that in any examination, there are competing rights that are created whereby the interests of a large number of students who have taken the examination without adopting any unfair means must not also be jeopardised.
“Scrapping the exam in its entirety would seriously jeopardise the lakhs of honest candidates who attempted the question paper in 2024,” it said.
Following the Centre, the National Testing Agency (NTA) also filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court opposing the cancellation of the NEET-UG exam. It said alleged malpractices were only in Patna and Godhra centres and the entire exam should not be cancelled based on individual instances.
The medical entrance examination conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) was taken by around 2.4 million students across 4,750 centres across the country. As many as 67 students had scored a perfect score of 720, unprecedented in the NTA’s history, with six from a single centre in Faridabad figuring in the list, raising suspicions about rigging.
“Certain cases of alleged irregularities, cheating, impersonation, and malpractices have been reported in NEET-UG, which was conducted on May 5,” the ministry said while handing over the case to the CBI last month.
The top court is scheduled to hear a batch of petitions on July 8, including those alleging irregularities in the examination and seeking a direction that it be held afresh. The petitions will be heard by a bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Mishra.
NEET-PG to be held in two shifts on August 11
The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBE) on Friday announced that it will conduct the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Postgraduate (NEET-PG) 2024 entrance examination on August 11 in two shifts.
The exam was earlier scheduled to be held on June 23. It was postponed a day before it was scheduled to be conducted by the Union Health Ministry as a ‘precautionary measure’ in the wake of allegations on the integrity of certain competitive exams.
More than 150,000 students had registered to appear for the test, which is given by medical students to qualify for postgraduate medical courses.
WATCH: NEET PG exam date, UK election results
First Published: Jul 05 2024 | 6:57 PM IST
