The Supreme Court on Tuesday came down heavily on the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the Centre while hearing pleas related to alleged paper leaks and malpractices in NEET-UG 2024. The top court bench said that the slightest negligence on the part of anyone should be dealt with thoroughly.
“If there is 0.001% negligence on the part of anyone it should be thoroughly dealt with,” the Supreme Court bench said. The top court added that we cannot forget the efforts of the children who have prepared for the exams.
"Just imagine a doctor treating who has passed like this and needs to be checked," the top court said. It also told the Centre and the NTA to not take petitions filed against the NEET-UG as adversarial litigation. The apex court also directed both the entities to admit and rectify if there is some mistake in conducting the test.
The top court further told the NTA: "As an agency which is conducting the examination, you must act fair. If there is a mistake, say yes, this is a mistake, and this is the action we are going to take. At least that inspires confidence in your performance."
Commenting on the NEET issue, AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj said that the government should take action and conduct an investigation.
"It is a matter of the future of 24 lakh students. The government should take action and conduct an investigation. I think the members of Parliament should discuss this issue," Bharadwaj said.
The Supreme Court is hearing a batch of petitions, raising allegations including paper leaks, awarding grace marks and a significant increase in high scorers.
On June 14, the top court issued notices to the Centre and the NTA on plea requesting for CBI investigation into allegations of question paper leak. The notice came after the Centre informed the Supreme Court about its decision to cancel the scorecards of 1,563 NEET-UG 2024 candidates, who were awarded grace marks.
The Centre also told the Supreme Court that the affected students will soon be notified of their revised scores, which will exclude grace marks that were previously awarded. The matter will be heard next on July 8.