NEET UG Hearing Highlights: No NEET re-test, counselling likely from tomorrow

NEET UG 2024 SC Hearing Live: Supreme Court hearing has resumed.

"We Plan to wrap up today," CJI DY Chandrachud said.

NEET UG 2024 SC Hearing Live: The Supreme Court hearing will resume soon. The lunch break will get over in sometime. Keep checking this space for latest updates.

NEET UG 2024 SC Hearing Live: IIT Delhi who was given the responsibility of resolving the issue of the controversial Physics question, has submitted that the fourth option is the correct answer.

NEET UG 2024 SC Hearing Live: According to CBI, “The accused used the rear door of the control room, where the question papers were locked, to enter at 8.02 am on May 5. The rear door was deliberately kept open by the centre superintendent. He came out of the control room at 9.23 am. He immediately sent it to the problem solvers. The investigation so far has zeroed in on four places where the question papers were relayed - two in Patna and two in Hazaribagh."

NEET UG 2024 SC Hearing Live: The Supreme Court will continue the hearing of the NEET UG related matters after lunch.

NEET UG 2024 SC Hearing Live: The Chief Justice asked the CBI about the nature of the forensic evidence, which shows the exact time the leak took place and its extent.

“Do we have any forensic evidence to know how that data was transferred and to which devices it was transferred?”

CBI: All burnt pieces recovered by us had the same serial number, which means only one question paper was leaked. The accused used the rear door of the control room, where the question papers were locked, to enter at 8.02 am on May 5. The rear door was deliberately kept open by the centre superintendent. He came out of the control room at 9.23 am. He immediately sent it to the problem solvers. The investigation so far has zeroed in on four places where the question papers were relayed - two in Patna and two in Hazaribagh.

CJI: Have you recovered the devices used in relaying the question papers?

CBI: Apparently, they have destroyed those devices.

NEET UG 2024 SC Hearing Live: A CBI officer is explaining different aspects of the investigation of the paper leak.

CBI officer: Two groups of candidates sought to benefit from the paper leak - one group at Hazaribagh and another at Patna.

CBI: The original question paper was taken out at Hazaribagh, copied and then re-sealed. City coordinator and centre superintendent were part of the conspiracy.

CBI: Candidates were collected on the night of May 4 but the paper leak happened on May 5 and was relayed from Hazaribagh to Patna.

NEET UG 2024 SC Hearing Live: Referring to the CBI reports, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta stated that the paper leak was confined to Hazaribagh from where the papers were transmitted to Patna.

NEET UG 2024 SC Hearing Live: On how compensatory marks were awarded to the 1,563 candidates, the Solicitor General said it was based on a formula as per CLAT. The same formula was applied for all candidates, but everybody did not get the same marks.

SG: We have taken 56,000 and 1.08 lakh because the petitioners argued on that basis.

Advocate Hooda: The reference point they have taken out for this percentage, they start with 12 lakh, sometimes they come to 1.08 lakh, sometimes the reference point is 56,000, sometimes the reference point is marks above 622…this will not lead us anywhere…wherever the picture is seen normal, they pick-up that reference point and present the data.

CJI: Do you ask these students to furnish a reason or document for city change?

SG: To my knowledge, no.

CJI: You can opt for any centre in the country?

SG: Any city in the country. City is the choice and we respect the choice.

NEET UG 2024 SC Hearing Live: The Solicitor General said 14,546 out of over 23 lakh candidates opted for a change of exam cities during the window provided for it.

These candidates are distributed in 4020 centres in 557 cities. If there is a possibility of one centre or city offering an illegal reward, there will be a concentration of students in those cities or centres.

NEET UG 2024 SC Hearing Live: The Solicitor General said candidates' performance in a centre in Kota, too, has remained consistent, with a variation of 2 to 3 per cent.

NEET UG 2024 SC Hearing Live: In Karnataka's Belgaum too, the success rate has remained consistent, the Solicitor General said.

A student, who failed the Gujarat board's 12th exam, secured 705 in NEET UG after appearing for the test from the centre.

CJI: As a matter of Interest, show us Hazaribagh, Patna

SG: In Patna, the success rate is 5.53 this year.

The Solicitor General argued that the success rate in Patna has remained constant when compared to the previous years. A difference of two or three percentage has happened everywhere and it depends on several factors such as the caliber of the batch and the examination itself.

Senior Advocate Hooda: One factual clarification…there are five other courses where admissions happen form the same entrance examination. So the total number of seats are about 3 lakh and the rank for admission goes up to 12 lakh…here we are talking about only MBBS.

CJI: But the 50th percentile is applied to all courses?

SG: Yes. He argued on medicine so I am giving medicine.

NEET UG 2024 SC Hearing Live: The Solicitor General, citing examples of various exam centres, argued that there is no significant rise in the number of candidates who will be getting admissions this year, compared to 2022 and 23. He compared the centre-wise number of candidates who appeared from various centres and who are eligible for admission suggesting there is no inflation in the number.

NEET UG 2024 SC Hearing Live: Pointing out the city-wise data of qualified candidates, the Solicitor General said there are some centres such as Kota, Shikar, Kottayam, Rajkot which are coaching hubs.

CJI: So students who will be appearing in the exam from those centres would not necessarily be domiciled in those cities?

SG: Mostly from outside… the example of Shikar, Kota, etc. may not assist your lordships to arrive at a correct conclusion.

SG: Out of 24 lakh students, 12.5 lakh would be below 164 marks.

CJI: The cut off marks for the 50th percentile is 164?

SG: Yes. For the purpose of qualification.

The Solicitor General pointed out that scoring the minimum cut-off marks does not guarantee admission and there are 1.08 lakh medical seats.

SG: The system was introduced because years back, it was found that some private medical colleges filled management quota seats by students who got 50 marks or 70 marks.

CJI: In this top 100, do we have any student from Hazaribagh and Patna?

SG: We have undertaken an exercise to determine the position of those centres in 2022, 23, and 24 and whether there is any rise or not.

SG: Your lordships are examining an issue where approximately 24 lakh students are involved. The total number of centres is 4,750…we will have to satisfy that a pan-India, there is no impact and the result has remained consistent.

“At the outset, I may point out that the top 100 students are spread across 95 centres, 56 cities and 18 states/UTs.”

Solicitor General Tushar Mehra: What I have understood from the petitioners' point of view is they have been able to give instances of 3 or 4 or 7 centres and raise a kind of apprehension or suspicion. Even if the suspicion is true, it will be true for that particular centre.

NEET UG 2024 SC Hearing Live: CJI DY Chandrachud said as per IIT Delhi's report, option 4 in the controversial Physics question is the correct answer.