Supreme Court Begins Hearing Pleas to Cancel NEET-UG Exam Amid Leaked Question Paper Allegations

The Supreme Court has started hearing a set of petitions seeking the cancellation of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) exam, which was conducted in 2024. The petitioners, who appeared for the medical entrance examination, claim that the question paper was leaked, compromising its integrity.

In an affidavit submitted by Varun Bhardwaj, the Director of Higher Education at the Union Ministry of Education, he stated that there is no evidence of a large-scale breach of confidentiality. However, he emphasized that scrapping the entire examination would be unfair to the lakhs of honest candidates who attempted the question paper. The affidavit does not provide specific rebuttals to each of the petitioners’ claims, but it relies heavily on a 2021 judgment authored by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud.

The 2021 case, Sachin Kumar & Ors v Delhi Subordinate Service Selection Board (DSSSB) & Ors, dealt with irregularities in a recruitment process conducted by the DSSSB to fill 231 ‘Head Clerk’ vacancies in the Services Department of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD). The recruitment process was marred by allegations of candidate impersonation, relatives seated close to each other at the examination centre, and question paper leaks.

The DSSSB received several complaints, and a committee formed by the Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi found irregularities, including evidence of candidate impersonation within a specific “zone of consideration”. The Deputy CM directed the DSSSB to verify candidates from this zone and lodge an FIR if any impersonators were found. Of the 290 candidates from this zone, nine did not report for verification, and “serious” concerns were raised for seven others.

The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) set aside the Deputy CM’s notification, stating that of the 290 candidates, 281 were free from blame. The CAT held that cancelling the entire process should be a “last resort” and an effort should be made to separate the “tainted” from the “untainted” candidates first. The Delhi High Court upheld the tribunal’s decision, leading to an appeal at the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court observed that there is a “spectrum” of responses in dealing with irregularities in recruitment processes. On one end of the spectrum, if the irregularities take place at a “systemic level”, affecting the “credibility and legitimacy of the process”, the authority has “no option but to cancel it in its entirety”. On the other hand, if only some candidates are guilty, they can be separated from the rest to ensure that those who are innocent of wrongdoing do not pay for those who are actually found to be involved in irregularities.

The court found “serious flaws” in the DSSSB’s recruitment process, including a five-year delay in conducting the exam, significantly reduced turnout compared to the number of applications, admit cards being issued only through electronic means, and a large portion of candidates hailing from “a particular area of Delhi”. Considering these factors, the court reversed the tribunal and Delhi High Court decisions, scrapping the entire exercise.

The Supreme Court is now applying these principles in the NEET case. The bench led by CJI Chandrachud has asked the National Testing Agency (NTA) if it is possible to segregate the beneficiaries of the paper leak from the untainted students who wrote the exam or if the alleged breach happened at a systemic level. The NTA’s response and the CBI update on the investigation into the leak are set to be heard by the Supreme Court next on July 11.