The Supreme Court stated on Monday that while it is obvious that there has been a leak in the NEET UG 2024 exam, ordering a retest will depend on whether the alleged breach was systemic and compromised the integrity of the entire process, as well as whether it was possible to separate the beneficiaries of the fraud from untainted students. The court noted that self-denial is only making matters worse.
“The fact that the sanctity of the examination has been breached… compromised, is beyond doubt. Now the question is how widespread is the breach,” Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud said while hearing petitions of those seeking as well as those opposing cancellation of the May 5 NEET UG exams over paper leak allegations.
The bench of the CJI-led Supreme Court, which is made up of Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, stated that it could be too much to assume that all 23 lakh students—or a significant portion of them—were implicated in the scam until the government and its agencies provide it with relevant evidence.
“For all we know, a large number of students may be honest…,” the CJI said even as the bench conveyed anguish if the exam was to be cancelled.
The Supreme Court scheduled a hearing for July 11 and stated that it would make a decision on the merits following the filing of responses to its inquiries from the government, the National Testing Agency (NTA), and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The CBI has been looking into cases related to the purported leaks, and the NTA administers the NEET UG exams.
The petitioners were also instructed by the court to get their affidavits from the Centre, the NTA, and the CBI by July 10 at 5 p.m.
“If we are not able to identify candidates who are guilty of wrongdoing, the retest has to be ordered. If you can’t distinguish the grain from the chaff, tainted from the untainted, it has to be ordered…,” said Chandrachud.
The consequence of the leak depended on the nature of the leak, he said. “…we are conscious of the fact that we are dealing with the careers of 23 lakh students. Asking 23 lakh students to reappear for an examination together with the preparation, cost travel, and dislocation of admission schedule…,” the CJI said.
“…where the breach is confined to specific areas or centres and it is possible to identify those who are beneficiaries of wrongdoing, it may not be appropriate to order a retest, particularly of an examination which has been conducted on such a massive scale involving over 23 lakh students,” the Supreme Court said.
“We are of the view that an order on merits would have to be deferred. NTA is directed to make full disclosure before the court… in three areas – nature of leak, places where the leak took place, and the lag of time between leak and conduct of the exam,” the court said. It asked the NTA to clarify “when the leak first took place, the manner in which the question papers leaked were disseminated” and “the time duration between the occurrence of leak and the exam on May 5”.
In addition, the top court requested that the CBI provide a report detailing the investigation’s current state as of Monday, July 8, as well as any new information that has emerged.
It asked the NTA to inform the court about the steps taken to identify the leak’s beneficiaries, the steps taken to identify the centres/ cities where the leak took place, the modalities followed to identify the leak’s beneficiaries, and how the leak was disseminated. The court also asked the Centre and the NTA to inform whether it would be feasible to use data analytics to identify suspect cases and segregate tainted students from untainted ones.
It would be necessary for the government to set up a multi-disciplinary team of renowned experts to ensure due measures are taken to obviate any future breaches, the Supreme Court said. The bench asked the government to inform it about the constitution of the committee so that the court could take a call on whether there needed to be any additions to it.
On the demand for a retest, the court said, “We have to see what was the modality in which the leak took place. If the modality of the leak is through electronic means, social media, then there is a possibility that the leak is extremely wide.”
The CJI said, “We are flagging these issues. We want you to give a comprehensive analysis of dates because if the leak is taking place through telegram, WhatsApp… social media, or an electronic means of communication, (it) spreads like wildfire. On the other hand, we must also balance it out with the time in which the leak takes place. If it’s more or less on the morning of May 5, then the time between when the leak takes place and students have to go for the examination is very limited.”
The court wondered if it’s possible to identify some red flags and apply data analytics to it to separate the gran from the chaff.
Pointing out that a higher number of students securing 720 marks out of 720 this year compared with previous years, can be a red flag, the CJI said, “Everybody who gets 720 is not a fraudster. There may still be people who are extraordinary, bright in that 720 out of 720. But we found that for the previous years, the proportion was very low. This year it suddenly goes up to 67.”
The CJI also sought to know “how many of them are from 1563 beneficiaries of added grace marks (granted to compensate for the lack of sufficient time to give exams)? Also students who get exceptionally high marks in NEET, but whose performance is not up to that in the 12th. But there again, there is a problem. Students don’t study as hard for the 12th as they do for NEET,” said the CJI.
He added, “if we have to separate the greens from the chaff, we will have to identify certain red flags. Those who fall in the red flag category, we may have to hold a limited rate for that category alone.”
Appearing for the government and NTA, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said, “We examined the pattern of the hundred top ranking students. It showed they were distributed among 95 centres located in 56 cities, which are spread out in 18 states, union territories.”
The court said it wants to know the steps taken by the government and NTA to identify the beneficiaries “because we have to be ruthless in identifying the beneficiaries”. Mehta submitted that the results of those identified had been withheld.
The bench declared their want to know the number of identified cases. “In total, how many students nationwide have had their results—we won’t call them systemic—withheld as a result of the leak? What location are those pupils in? We are interested in learning the students’ geographic dispersion. Do they all reside in the same state? “Are they in more than one state?” the CJI inquired. “As a court, this cancellation of the test of this nature, involving 23 lakh students, is a matter of extreme last resort, but if we have no go, we will have to cancel the exams,” he stated.
