Leak in NEET clear, no room for denial, says SC

The Supreme Court on Monday said that there was no doubt that there was a breach in the sanctity of NEET-UG 2024, and that it was important to determine whether it was systemic or localised so as to decide whether to order a re-conduct of the exam or to find ways to segregate the wrongdoers to avoid the loss of resources and potential setbacks to the careers of nearly 2.4 million students who appeared for the exam on May 5.

“One thing is very clear that the leak has taken place. The fact that the sanctity of the exam has been compromised is beyond question. The only question is how widespread is the leak...Let us not be in self-denial because self-denial is only adding to the problem...everyone knows there was a leak,” commented a bench led by chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, even as the uncertainty surrounding the examination’s validity and potential retest keeps millions of candidates on tenterhooks, with their career prospects hanging in the balance.

As the bench, also comprising justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra deferred to July 11 a clutch of petitions demanding the re-conduct of NEET-UG 2024 because of paper leaks and other malpractices, the court grilled the Centre and the National Testing Agency (NTA) , raising crucial questions regarding the extent of the breach and the potential impact on millions of students.

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“We need to find out if sanctity of the exam is lost or if we are able to identify tainted candidates. If the sanctity of the exam is lost, we order a retest...If you can’t distinguish chaff from the grain. We don’t live in an ideal world, but before we take a decision on the retest, we must remain conscious that we are dealing with lives and careers of over 23 lakh students...cancellation of an exam of this nature is a matter of extreme last resort,” said the bench, adding the law-enforcement ought to be “ruthless” with the wrongdoers.

The bench outlined settled parameters for deciding whether a retest is necessary, which included ascertaining if the breach occurred at a systemic level; if the breach affected the overall integrity of the examination process; and the possibility of identifying and segregating the beneficiaries of the fraud from the untainted students.

“In a situation where the breach of sanctity affects the entirety of the exam and if segregation is not possible, a retest is needed. But if beneficiaries are identified, a retest won’t be needed, which involves students on such a large scale,” the court order noted.

The court directed the Union government and the National Testing Agency (NTA) to provide comprehensive details about the nature and extent of the leak, detailing the time between the leak and the conduct of the exam, manner of the leak, dissemination of the leaked question papers, steps taken to identify the beneficiaries of the leak and measures adopted to secure the integrity of future examinations.

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“The Union government and NTA are to also inform whether it would be feasible to use data analytics in the cyber forensics unit or any employed by the government to identify suspect cases so that a modality can be formed to segregate tainted from the untainted students. Then, modalities are to be followed between the conclusion of the exam, including retest, and the counseling process. If an exercise needs to be done to deduce more beneficiaries of the leak, a policy decision needs to be taken on the status of the leak,” ordered the bench.

The order added that it would be necessary for the government to set up a multidisciplinary team of renowned experts to ensure due measures are taken to obviate any further breach in NEET. “The constitution of the committee shall be informed to the court, and the court shall decide if the committee shall go ahead or if someone is needed to ensure people from a diverse pool of domain expertise and data analytics,” it held.

The court directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which took over the probe in the matter on June 23, to file a status report on the ongoing investigation, highlighting the material uncovered so far.

NTA and the Union government have been directed to submit affidavits detailing their findings and steps taken by 5pm on Wednesday, with the next hearing scheduled for July 11. CBI is also expected to submit its status report on the same day.

The stakes are high for the candidates who appeared for NEET-UG 2024. The examination, conducted on May 5 by NTA for admissions to MBBS, BDS and other related undergraduate courses across India, has been mired in controversy, with allegations of question paper leaks and inflated marking — issues that have become a nationwide flashpoint for political parties, leading to thousands of students protesting for weeks.

This year’s examination was conducted at 4,750 centres in 571 cities, including 14 abroad. The results, declared on June 4, sparked controversy when 67 candidates achieved perfect scores of 720, with some of them belonging to the same examination centre. The Union government has already replaced the head of NTA after the controversy erupted.

NTA, formed in 2017, conducts a bunch of India’s most high-profile entrance examinations, including the Common University Entrance Test (CUET), the University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) and the CSIR-NET, among others.

The imbroglio over public examinations in India boiled into a political firestorm, with the Opposition attacking the Centre and accusing it of leaving the futures of millions of students in peril. The Congress also demanded a discussion on the NEET issue during the recently concluded session of Parliament, a requests that was turned down. However, several lawmakers, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi addressed the issue in their speeches on the floor of the House.

Leading from the petitioners’ side on Monday, senior advocate Narender Hooda argued for the cancellation of the exam, citing the large-scale nature of the leak. He pointed out that the question papers were leaked on a Telegram channel a day before the exam and raised concerns about the NTA’s adherence to standard operating procedures.

Acknowledging Hooda’s concerns, the bench questioned solicitor general Tushar Mehta and advocate Vardhman Kaushik who appeared for the Centre and NTA respectively, about the storage and handling of the question papers, including the timeline of their preparation, transportation and distribution. The CJI stressed the importance of determining the time lag between the leak and the exam to assess the extent of the breach.

“We are dealing with one of the most prestigious examinations in the country...It will be far-fetched for us to presume that a large number of students were involved. But at the same time, if the leak was through social media or electronic form then it could have spread like wildfire. That is why it is important to determine the nature of the leak. It will be a matter of serious concern and resources if we have to cancel the exam involving 24 lakh candidates,” the court observed during the hearing.

It added: “If we have to separate the grain from the chaff, we have to identify the red flags. If that is possible, it may be necessary to hold a retest for that category alone...Asking 23 lakh students to appear for a retest is tough.”

On Friday, the Union government filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court opposing the re-conduct of NEET-UG 2024. The government argued that such a move would disrupt the academic calendar and is unnecessary due to the lack of widespread evidence of malpractice. “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,” stated the affidavit filed through the Ministry of Education.

Supporting this stance, NTA, which conducts NEET, also filed an affidavit separately in the top court. It contended that cancelling the exam would be “counterproductive” and jeopardize the career prospects of meritorious students, despite instances of malpractices being “minuscule”, “sporadic”, and “scattered.”

NTA highlighted that the present case does not involve a systemic failure. “The data analysis of the performance so done by NTA succinctly indicates that the alleged malpractices have not either impacted the sanctity of the entire exam or resulted in any undue benefit to the students appearing at the aforementioned centers,” said NTA. It asserted that the performance of students at the questioned centres is neither abnormally high nor significantly different from the national average.

The Supreme Court has previously acknowledged the seriousness of the allegations and emphasised the need for maintaining the integrity of the examination process. In an earlier hearing on June 18, the vacation bench of the apex court underscored the importance of thoroughly dealing with even 0.01% negligence on the part of NTA in conducting the NEET-UG 2024.

Addressing reported instances of irregularities, the Centre’s affidavit on Friday detailed that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is conducting a comprehensive investigation into the alleged malpractices. The Union ministry of education has asked CBI to probe the entire gamut of alleged irregularities, including conspiracy, cheating, impersonation, and breach of trust. The Bihar government also filed a short affidavit informing the court of its initial investigations, which have since been handed over to CBI.

To address and mitigate future concerns, the ministry has constituted a high-level committee of experts, headed by Dr K Radhakrishnan, former chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation. This committee, the affidavit said, is tasked with suggesting effective measures for conducting transparent, smooth, and fair examinations.

Regarding 67 candidates receiving perfect scores, NTA maintained that the perfect scores were a result of the reduced syllabus due to the pandemic.

The Centre on June 13 told the top court that it proposed to withdraw scorecards issued to 1,563 students awarded grace marks on account of loss of time during the May 5 test, giving candidates the option of appearing for the fresh exam on June 23. That exam was, eventually, attended by only 48% of the 1,563 students, with the rest opting to retain their scores sans the grace marks.

The top court’s decision in this case will test the arguments presented by the Centre and NTA, the integrity of the examination process and the robustness of the responses to allegations of malpractice. All eyes will be on the Supreme Court as it navigates this complex and high-stakes issue, with the potential to impact the academic careers of millions of students across the country.