No wider malpractice: Union Govt files affidavit against re-NEET
The NTA, which conducts NEET, also filed an affidavit separately in the SC on the same day, contending that cancelling the exam will be “counterproductive”
The Union government on Friday filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court, opposing the re-conduct of medical entrance test NEET-UG 2024, arguing that such a move would disrupt the academic calendar and is unnecessary due to the lack of widespread evidence of malpractice.
“In the absence of any proof of any large-scale breach of confidentiality in a pan-India examination, it would not be rational to scrap the entire examination and the results already declared,” stated the affidavit, filed through the ministry of education.
Supporting this view, the national testing agency (NTA), which conducts NEET, also filed an affidavit separately in the top court on the same day, contending that cancelling the exam will be “counterproductive” and will jeopardise the career prospects of meritorious students even though instances of malpractices were “minuscule”, “sporadic” and “scattered”, committed by an identifiable set of persons at identifiable places where strictest of actions are being taken.
“The present case is not a case wherein the entire examination process conducted across at 4,750 centres in 571 cities (including 14 cities abroad) has suffered systematic failure, as it has not been vitiated by all pervasive factors of unfair means or paper leak etc...if the entire examination process is cancelled without their being any tangible factors warranting such actions it would be highly detrimental to larger public interest involving academic career of lakhs of students who have attempted the examination fairly without doing any wrongdoing or even an allegation of wrongdoing,” stated NTA.
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The agency added that it has carried out an assessment of the performance of all the candidates at the centres in Bihar, Jharkhand and Gujarat from where the complaints of alleged paper leak and other malpractices came up.
“The data analysis of the performance so done by NTA succinctly indicates that the alleged malpractices have not; either impacted the sanctity of the entire exam or resulted in any undue benefit to the students appearing at the aforementioned centres. The performance chart of the students at the said centers reveals that the performance of the students at these centres is neither abnormally high nor significantly different from the national average of performance of the remaining centres at different places in the country,” said NTA.
The affidavits have been filed two days before a Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud is set to hear a clutch of petitions that have demanded the national eligibility-cum entrance test (NEET) for admission to MBBS courses be scrapped because of irregularities, including possible leak of the paper.
Both NTA and the Centre maintained that they are committed towards the conduct of all competitive examinations in a fair and transparent manner, stressing the importance of protecting the interests of students who have attempted the exam fairly.
“The Union of India remains committed towards protecting the interests of lakhs of students who have attempted the question papers fairly and after years of hard work, without trying to obtain any illegal advantage...Scrapping the exam in entirety would seriously jeopardize the lakhs of honest candidates who attempted the question paper in 2024,” underlined the Centre, adding it has adopted a “solution-oriented approach”.
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According to the Centre, while genuine concerns based on proven facts must be addressed, other prayers merely based on conjectures and surmises must be rejected so as not to cause unnecessary suffering and distress to honest examinees and their families.
Emphasising that maintaining the confidentiality of question papers is of utmost priority, the Centre stated: “If due to some criminality at the behest of some criminal elements, the confidentiality has been breached, the Union of India submits that the said person must be dealt sternly and with the full force of law.”
Addressing the reported instances of irregularities, the Centre’s affidavit detailed that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is conducting a comprehensive investigation into the alleged malpractices. “The Ministry has asked the premier investigation agency, Central Bureau of Investigation, to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the entire gamut of alleged irregularities including conspiracy, cheating, impersonation, breach of trust, destruction of evidence by the candidates/institutes/middlemen,” it said.
The affidavit referenced the Supreme Court’s decision in the case of Sachin Kumar & Ors Vs DSSSB & Ors, highlighting that systemic irregularities would be required to vitiate the entire examination process. “The answer to the issue turns upon whether the irregularities in the process have taken place at a systemic level so as to vitiate the sanctity of the process,” the affidavit quoted from the 2021 ruling while adding that in such a case, those who are innocent of wrongdoing should not pay a price for those who are actually found to be involved in irregularities.
Responding to concerns about the examination process, the ministry said it has constituted a high-level committee of experts, headed by Dr K Radhakrishnan, former Chairman of ISRO. This committee is tasked with suggesting effective measures for conducting transparent, smooth, and fair examinations. “The Committee shall make recommendations on reforms in the mechanism of the examination process, improvement in data security protocols, and the structure and functioning of the National Testing Agency,” the affidavit stated.
Read Here | NEET-UG 2024 retest not needed, would adversely impact honest candidates: Centre tells SC
The affidavit also mentioned the enactment of the Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act 2024, which provides stringent punishment for offenses related to unfair means in public examinations. “The Act was brought into effect on 21.06.2024 and provides for stringent punishment for offenses related to unfair means in public examinations,” it noted.
The 2024 NEET-UG, conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for admissions to MBBS, BDS and other related undergraduate courses across India, has been beset with a series of allegations ranging from question paper leaks, inflated marking and arbitrary allowance of grace marks – issues that have become a nationwide flashpoint for political parties, leading to thousands of students protesting for weeks. This year’s examination was conducted on May 5 at 4,750 centres in 571 cities, including 14 abroad, with 2.3 million candidates appearing for it. The results, declared on June 4, raised further suspicions when 67 candidates achieved perfect scores of 720, with several of them belonging to the same examination centre. The Union government has already replaced the head of NTA after the controversy erupted.
The NTA, however, maintained in its affidavit that the perfect scores were because of the reduction in the syllabus, which was done to enable candidates to focus on the core concepts and to alleviate the pressure on students who faced challenges in completing their studies due to the pandemic in 2019-20.
It pointed out that the issue of paper leak is confined to some places in Bihar while the complaints from other cities in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh pertained to instances of individual malpractices and impersonation etc.
The Bihar police had commenced investigating the paper leak allegations, but the probe was later handed over to CBI, which has so far made seven arrests from Bihar, Jharkhand and Gujarat.
The Bihar government also filed a short affidavit on Friday, informing the court that although it started probing the allegations of malpractices in relation to the conduct of the NEET-UG and arrested an accused, the case records were handed over to CBI after the investigation was transferred to the central agency on June 23. “In view of the fact that the investigation is now being carried out by CBI, the present affidavit is being filed without details of outcome of the investigation carried out so far by the State agencies, since this may affect the pending investigation by the CBI,” said the state.
On June 18, the Supreme Court had emphasised that even 0.01% negligence on the part of NTA in conducting NEET-UG 2024 should be “thoroughly dealt with”. A vacation bench highlighted the importance of maintaining the integrity of the examination process, especially considering the hard work put in by the students. The apex court on that day acknowledged the allegations of paper leaks, malpractices, and discrepancies in the declaration of results and reminded NTA of the seriousness of allowing any fraud in the admission process, stating that a doctor admitted through fraudulent means could be deleterious to society.