SC NEET Hearing Highlights | Cancellation of entire exam not justified: CJI

NEET-UG case: Supreme Court asks IIT-Delhi to form experts panel to decide on contentious question; hearing to continue on July 23

The Supreme Court on Monday asked IIT Delhi Director to constitute a team of three experts on Physics to ascertain correct answer of a question in the NEET-UG 2024 exam and apprise it of the decision by 12 noon on Tuesday.

Click here to read the report.

NEET-UG physics question stirs new row; DU professor says 'only one correct answer'

A Delhi University professor on Monday said there was only one right answer, not two, to a controversial physics question that was asked in the NEET-UG 2024 examination that led the Supreme Court to direct IIT- Delhi to set up a panel of experts to resolve the impasse.

Click here to read the report.

The Federation of Central Universities Teachers’ Association (FEDCUTA) also called for immediate scrapping of the National Testing Agency (NTA) that had been tasked with holding the centralized NEET-UG for the past few years.

An association of central university professors on Monday demanded the constitution of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe into the alleged irregularities in the medical entrance test NEET-UG.

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Important cases listed in Supreme Court on July 23 (PTI)

1. SC to hear pleas related to the controversy-ridden medical entrance exam, NEET-UG 2024.

2. SC to hear pleas of the National Testing Agency seeking transfer of NEET-UG related cases from various high courts to the SC.

3. SC to hear a plea of Sharad Pawar faction against the decision holding Deputy CM Ajit Pawar's group as real NCP.

Supreme Court of India.

4. SC to hear a plea of West Bengal government against the denial of assent to Bills by Governor CV Ananda Bose.

5. SC to hear a plea of the Uddhav Thackeray faction challenging the decision of assembly speaker holding the CM Eknath Shinde-led faction as real Shiv Sena.

6. SC to hear a plea of the Committee of Management Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Varanasi in Gyanvapi mosque row.

7. SC to hear a plea of the Punjab government against SAD leader Bikram Majithia in a drugs case.

8. SC to deliver its judgement on a plea of an organisation 'Gene Campaign' against genetically modified mustard crop in India.

Education minister didn't say anything on NEET in Lok Sabha; will keep raising issue: Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi during the Monsoon session of Parliament, in New Delhi, Monday, July 22, 2024. (PTI Photo/Manvender Vashist Lav)(PTI07_22_2024_000260A)

Stating that Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan did not say what he was doing on the NEET-UG exam issue in the Lok Sabha, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi said the opposition will keep raising the issue to build pressure on the government.

Click here to read the report.

Track all updates on Union Budget 2024 with DH's Live Blog

Hearing begins, CJI says 'received report from IIT Delhi'

"We have received the IIT Delhi Report. The director Prof Banerjee constituted a committee from the dept. of Physics, they say a team of three experts examined the question. They say option 4 is the correct answer," CJI Chandrachud.

IIT Delhi deems option 4 correct for 'ambiguous' question

Debate over the contentious question 19 continued in the courtroom with the IIT Delhi expert committee deeming option 4 to be correct.

Individual grievances can be addressed in High Courts: CJI

CJI Chandrachud said that those candidates who have some individual grievances can move to the High Court. "I don't think the remit of this court is to start looking at individual grievances. We will detag those matters," he added.

Hooda argues for petitioners who got exam paper in different language

Some aspirants held on to the paper for 6 hours: Hooda

Senior advocate Narendra Hooda explained that in few centres, namely Sawai Madhavpur, Rajasthan and Ghaziabad the question paper was given in different medium of language.

"In Sawai Madhavput they detected on social media at 2:30 pm. It is their affidavit on record. At 2 pm the exam started, questions were given, and students raised grievance that this is not my medium. NTA got to know at 4:30 pm the same day," said Hooda.

SG, Hooda argue over lack of CCTV cameras at exam centres

"NTA says they were live monitoring the exam, but in Sawai Madhopur there systems were not working. So their argument that they have CCTV monitoring is completely destroyed," said Hooda.

To this, SG replied that the counsel has raised suspicion for 2-5 centres only.

"Your lordships are examining an issue where approximately 24 lakhs students are involved. Total centres 4750- this would be relevant figure in examining a pan-India cross country Impact," SG said.

Students unnecessarily tensed over wrong narrative: SG

"We must satisfy your conscience from stats and figures and not through some social media or telegram video. Top 100 students are spread over 95 centre, 56 cities and 18 states and UTs," said the SG.

SG explains the concept of percentile

"The narrative going on is that for centres like Rajkot more than 30 candidates were qualified. General impression was that if you're qualified you're getting admission in the course of your choice."

"There has always been and also for this year, a system of coming to a percentile. Percentile is the figure, after we get the result, it (result) is fed into the computer system and we request we want 50% percentile. So it gave us the figure of 164."

Increased cutoff may mean hardworking students: SG

"The cutoff this year was 164 (for unreserved category). Last year the cut of was 137, which indicates (1) this year number of students increased; (2) students were way more hardworking and (3) syllabus was sliced out."

SG submits city wise qualification ratio

'Kota Factory' finds mention in courtroom debate

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta explained that more students qualifying the exam doesn't mean more admissions. Mehta also pointed out the examples of Sikar and Kota having higher qualification rates cannot be used to take decision for aspirants across the country as these places are preparation hubs.

"The word which is being used by the newspapers- 'Factory' is possibly taken from the web series 'Kota Factory'," Mehta said.

"When a child from Kota sits for the actual examination, actually it is their 200th examination," he added.

Top cities in NTA's city-wise success rate table

Kottayam, Sikar, Namakkal, and Kota appeared among the top 10 cities in NTA’s city-wise success rate table for NEET-UG 2204.

SG debunks claims of cluster toppers, increased success rate

Mehta pointed out that Bihar and Patna's success rate is 5.53% this year. Earlier as well, it has remained consistent with 2 or 3% plus or minus.

CJI inquired about one of the contentious centres Hazaribagh.

"Hazaribagh - this year 4.61% only. Belgavi, it was said that a student shifted to Belgavi because they said there was some huge potential for mass copying - 2.5%," SG replied.

SG Mehta breaks up success rates of contentious exam centres

"Sikar, Centre - Gurukul International School, total appeared 715, those ranking within first 56000 students is only 101. The success ratio is 14.30% and those ranking within 1 Lakh 8 thousand is 152, and the success rate is 21.16%. If we count the reservation this would be perhaps half."

"Kota, Lal Bahadur Shastri- 476 appeared. Those ranking within first 56000- 28 and I am not counting the reserved categories. There is no spike, has remained constant within the last few years."

Only 14000 of 23 lakh used the re-opened window: Mehta

The Solicitor General debunked the claims that the NEET window was reopened to let in more registrations which eventually benefited some students.

"We opened the window for some time,it resulted in more number of candidates getting an opportunity to compete, that does not lead to an inference even remotely of any wrongdoing, But what was not pointed out was that out of the 23 lakhs students those who used the portal to change the centre was only 14000."

He further reaffirmed his point by saying that these 14000 students are distributed amongst 4020 centres in 557 cities.

Success rate among students who sought centre transfer only 6.46%, says Mehta

The CJI inquired that of the 14,000 students who sought centre transfer, 33 students came to Hazaribagh, 37 came to Patna and 24 came to Godhra. To this, SG Mehta replied that no student from Godhra is qualified for admission.

CJI asks to see 1563 candidates who got grace marks

CJI asked why the students were given compensatory marks, to which the SG replied that the students were not given full 3.2 hours for the paper. The students had received wrong paper due to which they took a re-test on June 23. Out of 1563 only 813 had appeared.

CLAT methodology was applied for compensatory marks: SG

SG said that the CLAT methodology was applied for awarding compensatory marks, based on what the students scored and the time lost.

"Everybody did not get same compensatory marks?" inquired the CJI to which the SG replied "no".

CJI inquires about Canara Bank papers distributed at 12 centres

"Out of 12 centres, 4 centres replaced the papers with SBI papers, thus 8 centres question paper from Canara Bank was used," SG Mehta told CJI.

CJI further inquired that 3307 candidates were not assessed on the basis of the papers of SBI but Canara Bank. He asked whether some moderation was done between the Canara Bank and SBI papers.

SG quoting expert report said that the difficulty level of both the question papers was same.

How were wrong question papers distributed in the first place? asks CJI

"City coordinator is authorised by DG NTA in writing . The authorisation letter contains the name, photograph and signature of the city coordinator duly authorised by the DG NTA," SG Mehta told the court.

SG submits that the city coordinator as per the practice, goes along with the centre superintendent as well as a neutral observer appointed by the NTA for each centre who is principle or lecturer.

The system as a whole has worked, except for some human error: SG

SG Mehta cited human error for wrong question paper being distributed at "0.3% centre that is 8 out of 4750 centres."

SG shows sealed question papers of the exam

Question papers were resealed after memorising: SG

SG Mehta, representing NTA said that the CCTV footage from oasis school, between 8:02 to 9:23 am, show people opening the trunk from behind and distributing the paper to the solvers. There were 8 solvers, 25 questions each ensuring there are no mobiles.

"After the memorising exercise etc they burnt the paper, but this piece remained unburnt. That piece was recovered by Bihar Police." Based on a unique number on the question paper, it was ascertained the the paper belonged to a girl who already complained that the paper which she received was resealed.

Hearing to resume at 2 pm

The bench comprising Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud, Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra dispersed for lunch.

SC apprised about CBI probe

Supreme Court was told that the paper leak was restricted to Hazaribagh, Patna only. CJI asked that since the leak from Hazaribagh to Patna was through one of the pictures clicked and scanned and sent, has that mobile been seized?

To this, NTA replied that some of the gadgets used in the paper leak were destroyed by the accused.

CJI questions NTA claims of 'paper leak restricted to Hazaribagh'

NTA said that the question papers were photographed, photocopied and then given to solvers. CJI asked that how can it be conclusively said that the scanned copies were sent to no other centres other than the ones in Hazaribagh and Patna?

Justice Pardiwala also noted, "This is an offence of an immature. A professional would not commit this mistake, he would ensure that the entire paper is burned. You got the first clue (CBI) because of these numbers, these numbers were on the booklet ?" NTA had said that the photocopies of the question paper were burnt after the students who paid the solver gang memorised the answers.

Accused got only 2 hours to mugg up questions: NTA

SG Mehta, representing NTA said that the beneficiaries of paper leak didn't fair well in the exam either. They got only 2 hours to mugg up the questions which reflected in the result they got.

He also said that there are 2 candidates with 581 marks among the beneficiaries of paper leak.

155 candidates benefitted from stolen paper: NTA

Court discusses 'trick' question

SG Mehta argued that students who marked option 2 based on old NCERT book should not suffer.

To this, Justice Manoj Mishra said, "We are not on rote learning. We are also on fundamentals you see. I am a science student myself." SG said that 4.22 lakh students will be affected by this decision.

Court mulls at not deducting marks for choosing option 2 for 'trick' question

Advocate Tanvi Dubey, appearing for AIR Rank 1 said that she has scored 720 out of 720. "If she would not have attempted question 19 then she would have got less 4 marks and now if option 4 is selected then she will get 5 marks less and stand at 715 marks. information bulletin is silent on the fact that old ncert book does not have to be referred etc. we have also said rules of the game cannot be changed in between."

Debate turns back to extent of leak

Senior advocate Hooda appearing for the petitioners said that the main accused Sanjeev Mukhiya was involved in paper leaks in other states as well. "Leak has happened, decimation is through whatsapp and gang working in different states and the centre is saying that the beneficiaries are in hazaribagh and Patna only because the accused's statement says it."

"We do know if it is beyond hazaribagh and Patna or not."

Cannot say that leak went beyond Hazaribagh, Patna as CBI probe still ongoing, remarks CJI

CJI Chandrachud remarked that there is a possibility that the leak is not confined to only two places but equally it cannot be said with any degree of prima facie nature that leak has gone beyond Patna and Hazaribagh to show that it is systemic and spread across the country.

If NEET is a patient it suffers from multi organ failure: Adv Hooda

Arguing for the petitioners, senior advocate Hooda said that even if 1,000 candidates benefitted from the paper leak, re test has to happen. "Integrity has actually gone. If NEET is a patient it suffers from multi organ failure and the patient has to go."

The entire exam's sanctity has gone, it has to be re-conducted: Hooda

Hooda argued that no document was sought from the candidates who requested a change of centre. This puts up a question mark on the sanctity of the paper.

Sr Adv Sanjay Hegde addresses bench

Hegde questioned CBI's claim that paper leak happened on the morning of the examination and the accused got only 2 hours to memorise answers.

"Which parent will pay Rs 30 to 75 lakh in advance for this chance, that is why this is not possible," he said.

Brief timeline for leak not possible: Hegde

Hegde told the bench, "there is a video of a man when he was not arrested and he says that leak happened even before the papers went in the trunks. Sanjeev mukhiya is now a big investor in leaks and evades arrest."

Bench rises, to reassemble in 5 mins

Bench reassembles, CJI dictating judgement

"In this batch of case the central issue being raised before this court is that a direction be issued for convening a re test on the ground that the question paper was leaked and that there was systemic deficiencies in the conduct of the exam. the NEET UG exam was conducted at 4750 centres at 571 cities besides 14 cities overseas."

Leak happened in Hazaribagh and Patna cannot be disputed: CJI

155 students from Hazaribagh and Patna appear to be beneficiaries of fraud: CJI

No RE-NEET: Supreme Court

The top court said that at this stage the court has independently scrutinised the data placed on record by NTA and there is absence of material on record to lead to the conclusion that result of the exam is vitiated or that there is a systemic breach of the sanctity of the exam.

No beneficiary of fraud would be entitled for admission: SC

The Supreme Court order read that if the probe reveals increased number of beneficiaries then action shall be taken against any such student at any stage not withstanding the completion of counselling process. No student who is revealed to have been part of the fraud or a beneficiary would be entitled to claim any vested right in continuance of admission.

Cancellation of entire exam not justified: CJI