The Supreme Court of India, today (18-07-2024), said that a re-examination of the NEET-UG 2024 medical entrance test could only be considered if there is strong evidence that the test's integrity was compromised on a large scale. Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud made this statement while hearing over 40 petitions about alleged cheating and irregularities in the NEET-UG 2024 exam.

Chief Justice Chandrachud told senior advocate Narendra Hooda, representing the petitioners, that it must be clearly shown that the paper leak was widespread and affected the entire exam to justify canceling it. He explained that the court cannot order a re-exam just because only 1 lakh out of 23 lakh students will get admission. The re-exam can only be ordered if it is proven that the entire exam was compromised.The Supreme Court gave priority to this NEET case over other important cases, such as Google vs. Competition Commission of India (CCI) and income tax returns, due to the significant impact of the paper leak controversy on many students. Chief Justice Chandrachud emphasized that many students are waiting for a decision on this matter, leading the bench to postpone the other cases.

During the hearing, Chief Justice Chandrachud asked Hooda about the number of seats available in both government and private medical colleges across the country. Hooda responded that there are 1,08,000 seats and argued that in the case of a retest, only those 1.08 lakh students would appear instead of the 23 lakh who took the original exam.Chief Justice Chandrachud also questioned Hooda about what happens to candidates who did not qualify within the 1.08 lakh seats. Hooda replied that the remaining 22 lakh aspirants would want another chance. However, the Chief Justice reiterated that a re-exam can only be ordered if the integrity of the exam was affected, not just because students want to retake it.

The Centre and the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts the NEET-UG, opposed the demand for a retest. They argued that the alleged cheating and irregularities were localized and did not affect the entire exam. Before the hearing, the central government submitted an affidavit stating that data analysis of the NEET-UG 2024 results by IIT-Madras showed no evidence of widespread cheating or any group of candidates benefiting unusually from the malpractices.

The NTA also submitted an affidavit supporting this, stating that their analysis of the marks distribution at the national, state, and city levels showed that higher marks obtained by some candidates were not due to a systemic failure. They also mentioned that a 25% reduction in the syllabus helped students score better in the exam.

Read more about NEET Examination here:- https://www.studydekho.com/course/information/national-eligibility-cum-entrance-test-neet/55 

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Official NTA website for NEET Examination :- https://exams.nta.ac.in/NEET/