Act fairly, admit if any mistake conducted in NEET UG, SC tells NTA

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday told the Union government and National Testing Agency that they must act fairly and admit if any mistake has been committed in NEET UG 2024 and take appropriate action to inspire confidence of students, who put a lot efforts in preparing for such competitive examinations.

Also Read -  SC notice to petitioners on NTA's plea to transfer petitions on NEET UG

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and S V N Bhatti issued notice to the Centre and the NTA and asked them to file their responses within two weeks to the fresh pleas for cancelling NEET UG 2024 due to paper leakage and other irregularities.

The court emphasised that the matter should be thoroughly investigated as students put a lot of hardwork to prepare for such examinations.

A batch of fresh petitions came up for hearing before the court, raising question mark on the conduct of examination on May 5 and declaration of results on June 4.

After a brief submission by the petitioners' counsel, the court told the Centre and the NTA's counsel, "The matter ought not to be treated as adversarial. Even if there is 0.001% negligence on the part of anyone, it should be thoroughly dealt with."

"Imagine a situation if a person who has played fraud becomes a doctor, he would be more deleterious to the society. We know the amount of hard work that goes into preparation of such examinations. We want timely actions," the bench said.

The court fixed the matter for consideration on July 8, when other similar petitions for cancellation of examination and CBI into paper leakage would come up for hearing.

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The court also told the NTA,
"As an agency which is conducting the examination, you must act fair. If there is a mistake, say yes, this is a mistake, and this is the action we are going to take. At least that inspires confidence in your performance. 

The NEET UG was conducted on May 5 for admission to undergraduate courses in government and private medical colleges across the country.

About 24 lakh candidates appeared in the examination. 

The court had earlier approved the NTA's decision to withdraw the grace marks and conduct re-test for 1563 candidates, who were granted compensatory marks for time loss, on June 23. It had said their results would be declared on June 30, so that counselling can start from July 6.

The court, however, had declined to stay the counselling process proposed to begin on July 6.