NEET 2024 SC Hearing latest news: SC adjourns hearing, posted to July 18
NEET 2024 SC Hearing latest news: Find the latest developments in the Supreme Court hearing on NEET UG 2024 here
NEET 2024 SC Hearing latest news: The Supreme Court postponed the hearing on the NEET UG 2024 'paper leak' case to July 18, 2024. The adjournment occurred because the bench led by CJI D Y Chandrachud observed that some parties had not yet received the affidavits filed by the Centre and NTA. According to LiveLaw, SC granted the adjournment to enable the parties to file their responses to the affidavits filed by Centre and Union.
In the previous hearing, the Supreme Court ordered the NTA to make disclosures on when the question paper leak took place, how the papers were leaked and the time duration between the occurrence of the paper leak and the actual conduct of the NEET-UG examination on May 5. " It is an admitted fact there is a leak. The nature of the leak is what we are considering. The leak cannot be disputed. The consequences of it is what we are considering,” the CJI said.
Opposing the idea of a re-test, the Centre asserted that a comprehensive report from IIT-Madras refutes allegations of widespread malpractices or illicit benefits to candidates at some select centres.
Based on the stance, the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts NEET, also filed an affidavit separately in the top court, maintaining that so far only 47 candidates have been suspected of indulging in the NEET UG 2024 paper leak and irregularities relating to OMR sheets.
The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG), conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA), is the entrance examination for MBBS, BDS, AYUSH, and other related courses in government and private institutions nationwide. Allegations of irregularities in the conduct of the exam and the controversy of awarding grace marks to some students marred the NEET-UG 2024 exam that was held on May 5, 2024.
IIT Madras Data Analysis Report
As per the data analysis report by IIT Madras, there is neither any indication of mass malpractice nor a localised set of candidates being benefitted leading to abnormal scores.
According to the Centre, IIT-Madras conducted a thorough analysis of the top 140,000 ranks for 2023 and 2024 to detect any abnormalities. This analysis aimed to identify if any centres or cities showed signs of undue advantage to a large number of students due to malpractices.
Also Read: No mass malpractice in NEET: Centre to Supreme Court
Here's what happened so far.
Video showing paper leak in Telegram ‘fake’: NTA
The National Testing Agency has clarified that the viral videos purportedly showing photos of a leaked NEET-UG 2024 question paper on Telegram, a social media app, were fake.
“Discussions within the Telegram channel indicate that members identified the video as fake. The timestamp was manipulated to create a false impression of an early leak. Comments and discussions on social media further corroborate that the images in the video were edited, and the date was intentionally modified to suggest a May 4 leak. The screenshots highlight the fabricated nature of the claims made in the video”, the NTA affidavit said.
No indication of ‘malpractice’: Centre tells SC
Based on the data analytics of NEET-UG 2024 results conducted by IIT Madras and as per the findings given by the experts, the Centre told the SC that there was neither any indication of "mass malpractice" nor a localised set of candidates being benefitted leading to abnormal scores in NEET-UG 2024.
According to experts, the marks distribution follows the bell-shaped curve that is witnessed in any large-scale examination indicating no abnormality.
CBI arrests two persons from Bihar in connection with the alleged paper leak of NEET-UG 2024
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Sunny Kumar, a NEET-UG candidate and Ranjit Kumar, another candidate's father in connection with the alleged paper leak of NEET UG 2024.
According to officials, the CBI has so far arrested eight persons in Bihar and Jharkhand related to the NEET-UG paper leak case, one person each in connection with alleged manipulation in Latur and Godhra, and another individual from Dehradun.