Supreme Court Issues Notice on NTA’s NEET-UG Transfer Petitions

The Supreme Court of India has issued a notice on the petitions filed by the National Testing Agency (NTA) regarding the alleged NEET-UG paper leak. The notice requests that the cases currently pending in the Rajasthan High Court be transferred to the Supreme Court. A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra issued the notice on Monday.

The NTA had filed the petitions, seeking to combine them with the main group of petitions that also includes requests to cancel the NEET-UG exam. The bench has scheduled the hearing for July 18. During the hearing, the counsel representing NTA pressed for a stay order on the proceedings pending before the Rajasthan High Court, but the bench refused to pass a formal order. The bench told the counsel that the high court generally does not proceed once a notice is issued.

It is worth noting that earlier on June 20, the Supreme Court had stayed the proceedings pending before various high courts of the country pertaining to the alleged NEET-UG paper leak. The court had also allowed the withdrawal of other transfer petitions filed by NTA seeking the transfer of writ petitions pending before various high courts pertaining to the award of compensatory marks in view of its earlier order.

In an earlier order passed on June 13, the Supreme Court decided to close the issue relating to the grant of grace marks in the NEET (UG) exam. The NTA had submitted that the scorecards of 1,563 candidates, who were awarded compensatory marks on account of the loss of time, had been withdrawn and cancelled. These candidates were given an option to appear in a re-test to be held on June 23 or to appear in counselling on the basis of actual marks obtained in the exam without normalization.

Meanwhile, the Centre, in its latest affidavit filed before the top court, stated that the data analysis conducted by IIT Madras showed that there was neither any indication of mass malpractice nor a localized set of candidates being benefitted leading to abnormal scores in the NEET-UG examination held on May 5 this year. The Centre’s statement suggests that the alleged paper leak may not have had a significant impact on the exam results.