Title: Supreme Court Issues Notice on NTA’s Plea to Transfer NEET-UG Paper Leak Cases
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday took action on a fresh set of petitions filed by the National Testing Agency (NTA), seeking the transfer of cases related to the alleged NEET-UG paper leak from the Rajasthan High Court to the apex court.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud ordered the consolidation of NTA’s transfer plea with the main batch of petitions, which include requests for the cancellation of the NEET-UG exam, scheduled for hearing on July 18.
The bench, also comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, declined to issue a formal stay order on the proceedings before the Rajasthan HC, stating, “High courts generally do not proceed once we issue notice.”
Earlier, on June 20, the Supreme Court had stayed proceedings pending before various high courts across the country regarding the alleged NEET-UG paper leak. It had also permitted the withdrawal of other transfer petitions filed by NTA concerning writ petitions on compensatory marks, following an earlier directive.
In a June 13 order, the Supreme Court concluded the issue of granting grace marks in the NEET (UG) exam after NTA informed that scorecards of 1,563 candidates, awarded compensatory marks due to time loss, had been withdrawn. These candidates were given the option to re-test on June 23 or to participate in counselling based on actual exam scores without normalization.
Meanwhile, the Centre, in its recent affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, reported findings from IIT Madras indicating no evidence of widespread malpractice or localized benefit to specific candidates resulting in unusual scores during the NEET-UG exam held on May 5 this year.
This development underscores ongoing judicial scrutiny and administrative efforts surrounding the NEET-UG examination, pivotal for aspiring medical students across India.
