NEET-UG Row: Supreme Court To Hear Batch Of Pleas On July 8

New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear a batch of petitions related to the controversial NEET-UG exam on July 8. These petitions, totalling 26, include allegations of irregularities and requests for the exam, held on May 5, to be reconducted. The hearing will take place before a bench led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, alongside Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, according to the Supreme Court’s cause list.

The NEET-UG, overseen by the National Testing Agency (NTA), is crucial for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH, and other related courses in both government and private institutions nationwide. This year’s exam was conducted across 4,750 centres with around 24 lakh candidates participating. Originally, results were expected by June 14 but were released early on June 4 following ‘expedited’ answer sheet evaluations.

The exam has been mired in controversy, with allegations of paper leaks sparking protests and political disputes. On June 11, the Supreme Court acknowledged the impact on the exam’s integrity and sought responses from the Centre and the NTA but did not halt the ongoing counselling for successful candidates.

Subsequent petitions demanded the NEET-UG’s cancellation and a court-monitored investigation into the alleged malpractices. During a separate hearing on June 18, the court stressed the need for thorough scrutiny of any negligence, even as minor as “0.001 per cent”.

Previously, on June 13, the Centre and the NTA informed the court about cancelling grace marks awarded to 1,563 candidates, offering them a re-test or the option to forgo the marks. The revised rank list, released on Monday, reflected a reduction in top scorers from 67 to 61, addressing suspicions that grace marks had contributed to an unprecedented number of perfect scores, particularly from a centre in Haryana.