Supreme Court's Intervention Amid NEET-UG Controversy: Seeks Responses on Allegations of Question Paper Leak and Irregularities
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has taken a significant step amidst the ongoing controversy surrounding the NEET-UG examination. In a development on Friday, a vacation bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Hiten Singh Kashyap, has sought responses from the Centre and the National Testing Agency (NTA) regarding a plea for a CBI probe into allegations of question paper leaks and other irregularities in the exam.Furthermore,
the bench has also called for responses from the Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI) and the Bihar government within a span of two weeks. The
PIL, along with other pending cases, is scheduled to be taken up on July 8,
following the commencement of the top court's functioning after the summer
vacation.
In related
developments, the Centre and the NTA informed the Supreme Court on Thursday
that they had revoked the grace marks granted to 1,563 candidates who
participated in the examination for admission to MBBS and other courses. These
candidates are now faced with a choice: to undergo a re-test or to forfeit the
compensatory marks awarded to them for the loss of time during the examination.
Conducted on
May 5 across 4,750 centers with around 24 lakh candidates, the NEET-UG results
were initially anticipated to be announced on June 14. However, they were
disclosed on June 4, reportedly due to the expedited evaluation process of the
answer sheets.
The NEET-UG
examination, administered by the NTA, serves as the gateway for admission to
various medical and dental courses in government and private institutions
nationwide. However, allegations of question paper leaks, particularly in
states like Bihar, along with other irregularities, have sparked protests in
multiple cities and prompted legal actions in seven high courts as well as the
Supreme Court.