Neet UG Exam Row: The NEET-UG exam was held on May 5 (file).
New Delhi:
The Supreme Court on Thursday heard a batch of petitions seeking re-examination or cancellation of the 2024 NEET-UG exam — for admission to undergraduate medical courses. The results of the exam have been plagued by allegations of leaked question papers and wrongly awarded 'gratuity marks'.
After a tense morning session, which included discussions on a report by IIT Madras that analysed the scores of all candidates and found no anomalies in the distribution of marks, the post-lunch discussion focused on the security protocol for the transportation of the exam questions that had reportedly been leaked.
Senior advocate Narender Hooda, appearing for the plaintiffs, said: “…as far as the chain of evidence (of the questionnaires) is concerned, they claim that the papers were sent to the centres through a private courier on April 24.”
“The documents reached SBI (State Bank of India) and Canara Bank (offices in 571 cities) on May 3.”
Questions about transportation arose after the CBI suggested that there was a leak either while the papers were being taken to centres or after they reached a school in Hazaribagh in Jharkhand.
READ | Leak in NEET-UG papers had origins in Jharkhand school: CBI
“On May 3, a suitcase (containing questionnaires) was found in an e-rickshaw under the open sky in Hazaribagh… the suitcase was received by the school principal (who has since been arrested),” Mr Hooda said.
The NTA, represented by Attorney General Tushar Mehta, denied any suggestion of a leak and pointed out that the CBI had examined the chain “from printer to centre”. “How the sealing was done… how GPS tracking was done… There is a seven-layered security system,” he told the court.
READ | 'Timestamp manipulated': NTA over 'fake' NEET paper on Telegram
Only retest if “holiness” is lost
Earlier, the court had stressed that it would order a re-examination only if the “sanctity” of the May 5 exam was “widely lost” due to leaked questions. The remark echoed observations made last week, when the court had said that the “sanctity” of the exam had been compromised and demanded answers. However, the court had then advised against a re-examination, saying certain circumstances would militate against it.
“You have to show that the leak was systematic… that it affected the entire examination… so that cancellation of the entire examination is justified…” a bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said this morning: “Out of 2.3 million students, only one lakh are admitted… we cannot demand re-examination.”
“Second, tell us what direction the investigation in this case should take.”
“If we accept your broader argument (that leaked exam questions compromised exam results), we would also like your assistance in determining the direction in which the investigation should take.” The court said it was not feasible to identify and “separate” students who may have colluded to gain access to questions.
'1.08 Lakh vs 24 Lakh' Question
On the number of applicants – to ascertain the strength of the requests for cancellation – the NTA said: “131 are not within the 1.08 lakh (selected students) seeking re-examination and there are 254 who are opposing it.”
Mr Hooda argued that it would be difficult to establish variations given a data set as large as all the students who took the exam, namely nearly 24 lakh.
The NTA told the court last night that the data analysed by IIT Madras showed that the distribution of figures followed a bell-shaped curve normal for a large-scale survey and there were no deviations.
READ | Why So Many NEET-UG Toppers? Answer of Examination Board in Court
The report also acknowledged the “general increase in points achieved… specifically in the 550 to 720 range… in cities and towns” and attributed this to a “25 per cent reduction in the syllabus”.
Mr Hooda, however, said the report was based on a figure of nearly 24 lakh and the analysis should have been done on the 1.08 lakh students who had cleared the exam.
“Data analysis was done for 23 lakh students… but at what stage, if there are 10,000 or 20,000 (cheating), can you detect an anomaly? The correct procedure was to apply it to 1.08 lakh…”
“The (bell-shaped) curve is not an indication that there is no deviation because the data is too large… which cannot be noticed. Granular variations cannot be seen with this large amount of data…” he insisted.
List of 100 toppers
Mr Hooda also demanded that the NTA release data on the top 100 and not just the top 17. The IIT Madras report had a city-by-city list, which showed that most (five) were from Bengaluru, four from Lucknow and three each from Kota in Rajasthan and Namakkal in Tamil Nadu.
The Chief Justice then read out the list of the top 100 students, which revealed that nine toppers were from Rajasthan alone and six from Bahadurgarh in Haryana.
Mr Hooda pointed out that in his view this was an anomaly, but the NTA said the purpose of the list is “to show that the top performers are spread across… that there is no abnormal spike at any particular centre.”
NEET-UG controversy
The controversy surrounding the 2024 NEET-UG exam, which was taken by nearly 2.4 million aspiring medical professionals, erupted last month after allegations were made that the exam had been leaked. Subsequent investigations revealed that the leak was orchestrated by a national ‘solver gang’ network on social media.
The first red flags were the unusually high number of perfect scores, with a record 67 students, including six from one coaching centre, scoring a maximum score of 720. Questions were also raised about the award of 'gratuity points' – which authorities say is not part of the examination protocol – to 1,563 students.
In a sworn statement filed last week, the government, citing IIT Madras' analysis, said there was no evidence of “massive malpractice” or evidence that some candidates benefited from cheating.
READ | CBI arrests 'Rocky', alleged mastermind in NEET-UG paper leak case
The CBI has been tasked with investigating the case and has so far filed six cases and arrested nine people. Last week, Rakesh Ranjan alias Rocky, who is believed to be one of the ringleaders, was arrested.
The incident also led to a political row, with the Congress-led opposition attacking the ruling BJP in Parliament, creating a ruckus and chaos as MPs debated the motion of thanks to President Droupadi Murmu's joint address.
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