Jul 24, 2024 08:49 PM IST
The apex court may have stopped short of ordering a retest, but the gaps highlighted in the hearing should force a review of NEET
Authorities in the central government and the National Testing Agency (NTA) might be tempted to rest easy after the Supreme Court refrained from ordering a retest of the undergraduate edition of this year’s National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET). The court rejected multiple petitions demanding a NEET-UG 2024 retest because of alleged paper leaks and other malpractices, underlining that the material on record did not show any “systemic breach” that vitiated the exam’s sanctity. “At this stage, there is an absence of material on record to lead to the conclusion that the result of the exam is vitiated or that there is a systemic breach of the sanctity of the exam… 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,” held the bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and comprising justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.
This would be a mistake. The futures of 2.4 million NEET candidates may have weighed on the minds of the judges who found no conclusive proof of a widespread leak. But the hearings in the court and a string of revelations by the media, Bihar Police and the Central Bureau of Investigation have underscored a pattern of malpractice and flouting of norms that allowed several localised leaks, benefitting scores of students. In addition, NTA and the ministry faced further embarrassment when their decision to award marks to two options for a physics question was reversed by an expert panel — set up by the court — which found that contrary to NTA’s finding, only one option was correct.
The conclusion of the case only indicates that there is no conclusive proof of a widespread leak, but after confirmed leaks at least two places, and the unearthing of organised groups called solvers, there is enough to suggest that the system needs a complete overhaul.
The top court’s decision draws the curtain on this year’s NEET imbroglio. The authorities have got off lightly. But they must refine the process before the next edition of the exam, conduct a thorough and transparent review to plug the gaps, and implement fixes as quickly as possible, including in other upcoming examinations such as UGC-NET. It cannot be business as usual.
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