Reiterating that there was no systematic breach in NEET-UG 2024 exam except Patna and Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh, Supreme Court declined to order re-test in the exam.
The National Testing Agency (NTA) was criticized by a bench led by Chief Justice Chandrachud for compensating 1,563 students for lost time. The NTA was ultimately forced to retract its decision in response to many petitions submitted to the Supreme Court. These candidates were thereafter offered the choice to take a retest or to show up for counseling based on their real exam scores, without any normalization.
“We have said that NTA must now avoid flip-flops it made in this case as it does not serve the interests of students,” observed the Bench, also comprising Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.
The top court noted that up to 44 candidates were eligible to receive full points because of the confusing question, referring to NTA’s decision to recognize two possibilities as the valid answers to a question.
In light of the expert panel’s decision on a controversial physics question from IIT Delhi, it requested that the NTA recalculate the marks.
In addition, the Supreme Court broadened the purview of the High-Level Committee of Experts, which the Center had established in the aftermath of the controversy surrounding the NEET-UG exam.
“The report of the committee shall be submitted to the Union Ministry of Education by September 30. The Ministry of Education shall take a decision on the recommendations made by the committee within a period of one month from receiving the report,” the SC ordered.
The second-highest law officer in the Center, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, declared that the Union government would carry out the ruling in letter and spirit.
