2024-07-08 17:50:02
NEET UG 2024 Hearing Live Updates: The Supreme Court (SC) of India began hearing several pleas related to the medical entrance exam NEET UG 2024 controversy on Monday, seeking a direction to conduct it afresh. A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justices J B Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra will hear 38 petitions in total.
However, the Central government and the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts NEET-UG, told the apex court that scrapping the exam would “seriously jeopardise” lakhs of honest candidates without proof of large-scale breach of confidentiality.
The NTA reiterated the Centre’s stand, saying the cancellation of the entire exam would be hugely “counterproductive” and significantly “harmful to larger public interest”, especially to the career prospects of the qualified candidates.
Catch all the LIVE Updates on NEET UG Supreme Court hearing here.
“The Supreme Court has raised some questions which have to be answered by the NTA and Union Government. Supreme Court has asked them to provide the data within the next three days…How the paper has travelled? What time was it sent to the examination centre? What time was it distributed to the students?… The Supreme Court observed if segregation is possible then re-examination is not mandatory…” said Advocate Shwetank
Supreme Court asks that affidavits by NTA, Centre and the CBI be placed on record at 5 pm on Wednesday, 10th July. Supreme Court posts the matter for hearing on July 11.
Supreme Court asks the investigating officer to place before it the material which has been gathered and would have bearing on when the leak is alleged to have first taken place and the modality.
Supreme Court asks NTA to identify the candidates who benefited from the NEET-UG paper leak. Supreme Court also asked NTA to identify centres/cities where leak took place.
All counsels for petitioners who are desirous of pressing for re-test shall file a common set of submissions not exceeding 10 pages before Thursday
NTA is directed to clarify on the basis of information available as on date:
(1) when the leak of question papers took place
(2) manner in which papers were leaked/disseminated
(3) time duration between leak and actual conduct of exam
While flagging issues, the SC said it is of the view that a view on merits would have to be deferred until further facts are placed on record before this court
SC asks about involving cyber forensic unit, using AI to ascertain number of wrongdoers, explore possibility of re-test for them.
NTA conducted NEET-UG on May 5, 2024. Results were declared on 4 June, 2024; from material at present stage, it appears that on 5 May, an FIR was lodged in Patna alleging a leak in the NEET UG 2024 question papers, implicating offences under sections…
Supreme Court asks how many students’ results have been withheld owing to leakage which took place; asks, where are these students – as in their geographical distribution? Are we still finding out the wrongdoers and have we been able to identify the beneficiaries?, asks Supreme Court from government.
Supreme Court also observes that there should be a sort of a multi-disciplinary committee of experts from across the country.
We are dealing with the most prestigious branch of study and every middle-class person wants their children to study either medicine or engineering, assuming we are not going to cancel the exam, how do we identify the beneficiaries and if we can allow the counselling to happen and what has happened so far, says Supreme Court.
Assuming that govt does not cancel exam, what will it do to identify beneficiaries of question paper leak: SC on NEET-UG 2024.
Results of how many wrongdoers have been withheld, want to know geographical distribution of such beneficiaries
CJI: In the country, how many students whose results have been withheld owing to leakage which took place? Where are they situated?
Are we still in the process of identifying students who were beneficiaries? If we are […], we will have to cancel the exam. Cancellation of exam of 24 lakh students is a matter of extreme…
Let us not be self-denial about what happened.
We want to know number of beneficiaries of question paper leak, what action has been taken against them: SC on NEET-UG 2024
We have to identify the beneficiaries. Anybody who has breached is not entitled to…more than the number of beneficiaries, we want to know what action was taken by govt and NTA
CJI: Matter gone to CBI. but how many FIRs registered?
SG: One qua paper leak in Patna. Others qua local malpractice. According to them, 6 FIRs have been registered
CJI: One thing is clear – leak has taken place. Question is, how widespread is the reach?
CJI: There are certain red flags…67 candidates scoring 720/720…in previous years, proportion was very low
Secondly, change in centres…if someone registers at Ahmedabad and suddenly goes to…We have to separate grains from chaff so that limited re-test can be carried out for red flag category
One more imp aspect is modality in which leak took place. If modality is though social media, it is a possibility that leak is wide
If leak is taking place through Telegram/Whatsapp…electronic means…then it spreads like wildfire. On the other hand, if leak was on morning of 5th, then the time for spread was limited. This concerns 20 lakh students
If students were asked to memorize on morning of the exam, leak might not have been so widespread. If we can’t identify candidates who are guilty of wrongdoing, retest has to be ordered
CJI: In what custody were the papers reserved? When did NTA send the papers to the banks in the cities? We want to know which is the printing press and what were the transportation arrangements
After they are printed, how does the printing press send them back to NTA? And how many days elapse in this process? If we come to the conclusion that the time lag between the leak and actual exam is limited, it would militate against re-test
Counsel for some petitioners seek re-test, tell SC identification of tainted and untainted is not possible.
Question paper was circulated on mobile phone…on Telegram app…we have a video…on 5 May, printouts were taken out from the wifi printer kept in a school…Bihar police is talking of groups of candidates, not 2-3 candidates, said the Counsel.
Tampering with question paper boxes could not be detected…investigation is being done regarding at what time leakage has occurred in chain of custody…
The counsel for petitioners said: “Bihar police says NTA has not followed standard SOPs…fault is at systemic level. It is at a large scale. NTA says as of now we can’t say whether fault is at systemic level or not, and what is the sweep of the entire fraud.
In one para NTA says it appears that all this has happened at a miniscule level. They are saying both things. They say CBI is investigating…there are 6 FIRs registered in Patna, Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Jharkhand.”
If ultimately fault is found at systemic level, integrity of exam is compromised, if beneficiary of fraud can’t be segregated from untainted…
Then this court has said we will not allow 1 candidate who has gotten into the system through unfair means…
Pleas in SC seek cancellation of exam, order to NTA to conduct re-test, besides court-monitored probe into ‘irregularities’.
SG Tushar Mehta: Wrongly, one question paper was distributed for a particular centre…
CJI: Problem with 1563 candidates pertained to 2 centres…therefore they were given grace marks. In 1563, there were 6 who got 720/720?
In previous years, only 1-3 candidates scored full marks…this is the first time in history that 67 candidates scored full marks, said petitioners.
The CJI asked if out of these 67 who scored full marks this year, how many were beneficiary of grace marks?
Petitioners replied with none
Various instances of NEET 2024 paper leak were reported. FIR was recorded by Patna police. Prima facie involvement of organized gang was found in this case by Bihar police.
67 candidates scored 720/720 marks, 6 being from the same centre…this is mathematically not possible
There is a private counselling entity…they sent an email to NTA that there are people who are claiming that this OMR scam is happening whereby certain schemesters…
One day before exam, a telegram channel disclosed that this is the question paper and these are the answers…then NTA gave a press release acknowledging the issue of incorrect distribution of question papers
We are seeking cancellation of this exam which was held on May 5. Result was to be declared on 14 June, but they preponed it to 4 June.
The government in its affidavit to the SC said it has constituted a high-level committee of experts to suggest effective measures to conduct transparent, smooth and fair examinations by the NTA.
The affidavit said the panel shall make recommendations on reforms in the mechanism of the examination process, improvement in data security protocols and structure, and functioning of the NTA.
The NTA and the Education Ministry have been in the middle of the alleged large-scale malpractices associated with NEET, ranging from question paper leaks to impersonation in the test held on May 5.
The Ministry and NTA in separate affidavits filed with the SC, opposed pleas which sought scrapping of the exam, a re-test and a court-monitored probe into the entire gamut of issues.
On its part, the Centre and the NTA, had recently told the SC that scrapping the exam would be “counterproductive” and “seriously jeopardise” lakhs of honest candidates in the absence of any proof of large-scale breach of confidentiality, as per a PTI report.
Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on July 8 said that the Supreme Court will begin hearing the case at 2 pm, post lunch.
“We will start at 2 (pm). We will start with petitioners who argue entire test is vitiated. That’s the broadest argument. So, we will hear that first,” he stated.
DY Chandrachud, the Chief Justice of India on July 8 said that the bench will hear the case after lunch. He added that the apex court will first hear arguments from those challenging the test and seeking re-exams.
“We will come back after lunch. Tell us who will be leading the arguments on behalf of the petitioners. We will first hear those who are asking for a re-test, challenging the entirety of the test on the ground that it was vitiated. After hearing them, we will hear the NTA and the government,” the CJI said.
56 students from Gujarat have approached the Supreme Court of India, opposing the plea for re-conduction of the test.
The Supreme Court is hearing 20 pleas on NEET row now.
The National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses, and the Union Education Ministry have been at the centre of media debates and protests by students and political parties over alleged large-scale malpractices ranging from question paper leak to impersonation in the test held on May 5.
The Union Education Ministry and the NTA filed separate affidavits opposing the pleas which have sought scrapping of the exam plagued by controversy, a re-test and court-monitored probe into entire gamut of issues involved.
) Counselling for NEET-UG, 2024, is expected to start by the end of this month, official sources said.
The counselling session was likely to begin in the first week of July. However, the counselling authorities had not notified any date or schedule.
The sources said the process of issuing permission letters to some medical colleges was still underway and additional seats were likely to be added.
A counsel mentions a petition filed by 56 students from Gujarat opposing the pleas to re-conduct the NEET-UG exam.
CJI asks the counsel to mention the matter when the other NEET-UG matters are taken up.
The Centre and the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts NEET-UG, recently told the apex court that scrapping the exam would be “counterproductive” and “seriously jeopardise” lakhs of honest candidates in the absence of any proof of large-scale breach of confidentiality.
The Centre and the NTA on June 13 told the court that they had cancelled the grace marks awarded to 1,563 candidates.
They were given the option to either take a re-test or forgo the compensatory marks awarded for loss of time.
The NTA announced the revised rank list on July 1 after issuing the results of the re-test held on June 23.
A total of 67 students had scored a perfect 720, unprecedented in the NTA’s history, with six from a Haryana centre figuring in the list, raising suspicions about irregularities in the examination. It has been alleged that grace marks contributed to the 67 students sharing the top rank.
The number of candidates sharing the top rank in the NEET-UG reduced to 61 from 67 as the NTA announced the revised results on July 1.
The Congress on Saturday demanded that the medical entrance exam NEET-UG be conducted again and all “paper leak scams” thoroughly investigated under the Supreme Court’s supervision.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that be it NCERT books or leakage in exams, the Modi government is bent on “destroying our education system”.
The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC), under the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) has not yet notified the counselling schedule of NEET UG and PG courses for the year 2024.
The counselling schedule for NEET UG and PG is announced by MCC on its website on the basis of completion of the exam process and finalisation of seat matrix by National Medical Commission (NMC). In the years 2021, 2022 and 2023, the counselling for UG seats commenced on 19/1/2022, 11/10/2022 and 20/7/2023 respectively, a press release by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare informed.
The Centre and the NTA on June 13 told the court that they had cancelled the grace marks awarded to 1,563 candidates.
They were given the option to either take a re-test or forgo the compensatory marks awarded for loss of time.
The NTA announced the revised rank list on July 1 after issuing the results of the re-test held on June 23.
A total of 67 students had scored a perfect 720, unprecedented in the NTA’s history, with six from a Haryana centre figuring in the list, raising suspicions about irregularities in the examination. It has been alleged that grace marks contributed to the 67 students sharing the top rank.
The number of candidates sharing the top rank in the NEET-UG reduced to 61 from 67 as the NTA announced the revised results on July 1.
The Centre and the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts NEET-UG, recently told the apex court that scrapping the exam would be “counterproductive” and “seriously jeopardise” lakhs of honest candidates in the absence of any proof of large-scale breach of confidentiality.
The Union Health Ministry on Saturday clarified that the counselling schedule for NEET UG and PG courses for the year 2024 has not yet been notified by the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC).
The counselling schedule for NEET UG and PG is announced by MCC, under the Directorate General of Health Services, on its website on the basis of the completion of the exam process and the finalisation of the seat matrix by the National Medical Commission (NMC).
The Supreme Court (SC) of India will hear several pleas related to the medical entrance exam NEET UG 2024 controversy on Monday.
Kareena Kapoor is working with Raazi director Meghna Gulzar for her next film. The project,…
2024-11-09 15:00:03 WEST LAFAYETTE -- Daniel Jacobsen's second game in Purdue basketball's starting lineup lasted…
2024-11-09 14:50:03 Rashida Jones is remembering her late father, famed music producer Quincy Jones, in…
2024-11-09 14:40:03 A silent German expressionist film about vampires accompanied by Radiohead’s music — what…
Let's face it - life can be downright stressful! With everything moving at breakneck speed,…
Apple’s redesigned Mac Mini M4 has ditched the previous M2 machine’s SSD that was soldered…