New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India has directed the government of India to take remedial measures and restructure the NEET-UG exams conducted for admissions to government and private medical and dental colleges across the country under the guidance of the High Power Committee.
Pronouncing its elaborate verdict in the NEET-UG 2024 exam case, the three judge bench led by the Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachd on Friday said that the court had expanded the remit of the K Radhakrishnan Committee set up by the government of India for strengthening of the exams conducted by the National testing Agency.
The court on Friday said that the high powered committee will now look in various aspect of the NEET-UG exam like drawing up of a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the exam, exam security, review of system for allocation of exam centres for candidates, comprehensive and real time CCTV monitoring of the exams, surprise inspections during the exams and also to review the manner in which exam papers are printed, transported and distributed during the exam.
The court said the committee will submit its report to the Ministry of education by September 30 and within a month’s time the government of India will take a decision. The court has also directed the government of India to file a compliance report before the court at a later date.
On the issue of flip flops by National testing Agency (NTA) on the NEET-UG 2024 paper leak, the court has cautioned the NTA to avoid such flip flops in future as it is not in the interest of the students.
The court cited instances of flip flops by the NTA saying first NTA said that 1563 students who faced loss of time in the exams were to be given compensatory marks, then it was decided to hold a retest for them, then there was also an issue with one question, where NTA gave marks to students for the incorrect option.
The Supreme court of India verdict of Froday is a follow up of its 23 July interim orders saying where it held “There is an urgent need to provide certainty and finality to a dispute which affects the careers of over two million students. Hence, it is imperative that the final conclusions of the Court be recorded at the present stage. The reasons for the ultimate conclusions will follow later.”
On 23 rd July, the Supreme court of India had refused to order Re-NEET and said, “At the present stage, there is an absence of material on the record to lead to the conclusion that the entire result of the examination stands vitiated or that there was a systemic breach in the sanctity of the examination.”
The court also in its interim orders recorded that, “Directing a fresh NEET (UG) to be conducted for the present year would be replete with serious consequences for over two million students who have appeared in the examination. Adopting such a course of action would, in particular, (i) lead to a disruption of the admission schedule for the commencement of medical courses, setting back the entire process by several months; (ii) lead to cascading effects on the course of medical education; (iii) impact the availability of qualified medical professionals in the future; and (iv) cause a serious element of disadvantage to students belonging to marginalized communities and weaker sections for whom reservation has been made in the allocation of sea.”
