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The Supreme Court on Friday pronounced its judgment giving its detailed reasons for not cancelling the NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test)-UG medical entrance exam, despite a raging controversy over paper allegations and other irregularities in the exam.
While holding that there was no material to show that the leak was widespread, affecting the sanctity of the entire exam, the court highlighted the lapses made by the National Testing Agency (NTA).
After the oral pronouncement, Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said, "We have said that the NTA must now avoid the flip flops which it has made in this case."
"These flip-flops in the NTA do not serve the interest of the students," the CJI said.
The verdict was pronounced by a three-judge bench, headed by the CJI.
The CJI also questioned the NTA for allowing candidates to change exam centres and also for opening a "rear door" to allow new registrations.
The bench also flagged the NTA's decision to award grace marks to 1,563 students to compensate for the loss of time they suffered for being given the wrong question paper. However, this decision was later retracted, and those students were made to appear for a re-test.
In the judgment, the court gave additional directions to an expert committee, which was constituted by the government on June 22 to examine measures to make the exam process more robust.
The court has asked the expert committee to evaluate a mechanism to evaluate the security mechanism to ensure rigorous checks in the exam process.
The committee has been asked to formulate a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) regarding the timeline for registration, change of exam centres, and sealing and storage of OMR sheets.
It has also been asked to prepare a report by September 30, 2024.
Thereafter, the Ministry of Education shall formulate the program to be implemented in a month and then inform the court of the development after two weeks of the said decision.
On August 1, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed its first charge sheet in the alleged NEET exam paper leak case, naming 13 people as accused.
The charge sheet listed that the accused were allegedly involved in the paper leak and other irregularities, officials told news agency PTI.
The central probe agency, which is investigating the alleged irregularities in the medical entrance exam, has lodged six FIRs.
