The Supreme Court is set to hear a series of petitions on Thursday seeking the cancellation of the NEET-UG 2024 exam, held on May 5. The petitions, which include allegations of irregularities and malpractices, will be heard by a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, starting at 10:30 am. The Centre, in response, has submitted an affidavit to the Supreme Court denying any widespread malpractice. According to the Centre, data analytics conducted by IIT Madras on the NEET-UG 2024 results show a normal distribution of marks, consistent with typical large-scale exams, indicating no abnormalities. The Centre’s affidavit states that there was no evidence of any localized group of candidates receiving abnormal scores, suggesting no systemic malpractice.
The National Testing Agency (NTA) also filed affidavits as directed by the Supreme Court on July 8, responding to concerns about the extent of any potential paper leaks and the need to segregate wrongdoers from honest candidates. The Supreme Court mentioned that while a re-test would be a last resort, it might be necessary if the integrity of the entire exam was compromised. Both the Centre and the NTA previously argued against cancelling the exams, stating it would harm the interests of many honest candidates in the absence of evidence of a large-scale breach.
In an additional affidavit filed on Wednesday, the Centre noted that the undergraduate seat counseling process for 2024-25 would start in the third week of July, spanning four rounds. The Ministry of Education had requested IIT Madras to conduct a thorough data analysis of the NEET-UG 2024 results. The analysis by IIT Madras used various parameters, such as marks distribution and city-wise and center-wise rank distribution, and found an overall increase in marks in the range of 550 to 720, attributed to a 25% reduction in the syllabus. This increase was observed across multiple cities and centers, indicating a low likelihood of malpractice. The NTA’s separate affidavit also supported these findings, showing a normal distribution of marks without any extraneous factors affecting the results. The NTA detailed its stringent procedures for the confidential printing, transportation, and distribution of question papers to ensure the exam’s integrity.
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