Supreme Court Declines to Cancel NEET UG Exam, Asks Exam Body to Rectify Loopholes

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday declined to cancel the controversy-ridden NEET-UG 2024 examination stating that there was no systemic breach of its sanctity.

The bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said, “We did not cancel the NEET-UG examination because there was no systemic breach of sanctity of the exam beyond Hazaribagh and Patna.”

It apex court issued a slew of directions and expanded the remit of the Centre-appointed panel headed by former ISRO chief K Radhakrishnan to review the NTA’s functioning and recommend exam reforms.

The bench said the Radhakrishnan panel should consider framing standard operating procedure for adoption of technological advancements to strengthen the examination system.

The top court said since the remit of the panel has been expanded, the committee would submit its report by September 30 on various measures to rectify deficiencies in the examination system.

The issues which have arisen during the NEET-UG examination should be rectified by the Centre, said the Supreme Court bench.

On July 23, the top court dismissed the pleas seeking cancellation and re-test of the exam.

For cancelling the exam, the wrongdoing should be widespread and systemic, breaching the sanctity of the entire test, the court had observed.

The bench had rejected the submission by the lawyers for petitioners that the leak was systemic in nature. The court, however, said the fact that the leak of question paper indeed took place in Hazaribagh and Patna is “not in dispute”.