India’s Supreme Court on Tuesday (Jul 23) said that it found no systemic breach in the sanctity of the 2024 NEET-UG medical entrance exam conducted two months ago. The top court said that there is no material to show that the results of the exam are “vitiated entirely and that there was a systemic breach in its sanctity”.
The court also ruled out a re-test for the 2024 NEET-UG exam.
“The Court realises that directing a fresh NEET-UG for the present year would be replete with serious consequences which will be for over 24 lakh students who appeared in NEET… and cause disruption of admission schedule, cascading effects on the course of medical education,” Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said.
“Data on record is not indicative of a systemic leak of the question paper which would indicate a disruption of the sanctity of the exam,” the top court said.
Before the Supreme Court order, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) confirmed that the paper leak in the NEET-UG case had indeed occurred in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh. This is the first time that the central agency officially made the claim since it took over the investigation into the case in June.
NEET controversy: Over 400,000 students to lose 4 marks over contentious question
Over 400,000 students will now lose four marks after the apex court’s ruling on Tuesday that only one correct answer from a set of four answers will be valid. This comes after a student pointed out that “Question No. 29” of the Physics section had two correct answers when it should have only one correct answer.
The students who will lose four marks also include 44 who had scored a perfect 720/720.
The Supreme Court order came after a team of three experts from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in New Delhi gave a report and put a question related to atoms and their characteristics to rest.
(With inputs from agencies)