NEET Row: Supreme Court Issues Notice To NTA And Centre

The Supreme Court came down heavily on the central government and the National Testing Agency (NTA) during a hearing on pleas related to alleged paper leaks and malpractices in NEET-UG 2024. The top court observed that even minor negligence needs to be dealt with thoroughly.

"Even if there is 0.001% negligence on the part of anyone, it should be thoroughly dealt with. All these matters ought not to be treated as adversarial litigation," Justice Bhatti orally said during the hearing, as quoted by LiveLaw. The vacation bench of Justices Vikram Nath and SV Bhatti also said that a candidate who becomes a doctor after playing fraud in the exam is more dangerous to society. According to a LiveLaw report, Justice Bhatti expressed that the NTA should act proactively and must admit if there is any mistake.

The next hearing in the matter will be on July 8. The apex court also issued notices to the NTA and Centre and sought responses from them on pleas relating to alleged paper leaks and malpractices. This year's NEET-UG examination was conducted on May 5. The results were published on June 4, and immediately there was an uproar, with many students alleging discrepancies. The awarding of grace marks to over 1,500 students also raised questions. Later, the central government informed the Supreme Court that a decision had been taken to cancel the grace marks awarded to 1563 students. The affected students have a chance to decide whether to keep their original scores or opt for a retest scheduled for June 23.