New Delhi: Observing that even 0.001% negligence in conducting NEET-UG must be examined thoroughly, Supreme Court on Tuesday said Centre and National Testing Agency (
NTA
) should admit if there had been any mistake in organising the test and rectify it, instead of denying it.
As allegations of mismanagement and question paper leak marred the medical entrance examination taken by over 24 lakh candidates and against which students in different parts of the country are holding protests, a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and SVN Bhatti expressed concern over students indulging in illegal and corrupt means to get admission in MBBS courses and said this was “deleterious to society”.
The bench said timely action should be taken by authorities in such cases as children put a lot of hard work for the exam and their interests should be protected. “Even if there is 0.001% negligence on the part of anyone, it should be thoroughly dealt with. All these matters ought not to be treated as adversarial litigation,” the bench said.
“You must stand firm. If there is a mistake then admit there is a mistake and say this is the action we will take. At least that inspires confidence in your performance. One can easily find out what has gone wrong,” it added.
Advocate Kanu Aggarwal, appearing for the Centre, said the govt was alive to the problem and that was why the decision to award grace marks to 1,563 students was withdrawn and a retest was ordered. He further said the Centre was not taking the litigation initiated by students as adversarial but cautioned against drawing any conclusion until the govt and the NTA had filed their response.
Appearing for a group of 32 medical aspirants from different parts of the country who took the test on May 5, advocate Kunal Cheema urged the bench to seek a status report from Bihar police which is investigating the paper leak case. He said the report would be very helpful in deciding the case.
However, the bench said all aspects of the case would be heard along with a batch of other petitions on July 8, including on seeking a status report. The court issued fresh notices to Centre and NTA asking them to file their response within two weeks.
Praying for re-examination, the petition additionally said to the court, “The petitioners and their family members have put in years of preparation for the examination, with the hopes that they would get into a good govt college on a free seat. However, the question paper leak as reported in the media and upon perusal of the contents of the press release, it has become amply clear that the question paper leak has spread its tentacles all over the country and has resulted in grave injustice being caused to the petitioners.”
Earlier, Centre and NTA admitted before the SC that it was a mistake to award grace marks to students. They reversed the decision and decided to conduct a fresh test for 1,563 students. NTA had awarded them compensatory marks.
