Will the NEET UG exam be canceled or not? Even after a 4-hour hearing on July 18, the Supreme Court has yet to decide. The three-judge bench, presided over by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, has directed the National Testing Agency (NTA) to upload all NEET UG candidates' marks (city and center-wise) by Saturday noon. The hearing covered several issues, including the reported paper leak, the CBI-IIT Madras report, the full timeline of the examination irregularities, and the number of arrested solvers. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has also expressed its astonishment over the 45 minutes which the 'solver gang' supposedly took to solve and disseminate NEET papers to students.
Photographs of the paper are taken one hour before the exam
Investigations by the Bihar Economic Offences Unit (EOU) revealed that some students were coached with NEET UG question papers in a 'safe house' before the exam. However, during the hearing, Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, representing NTA, denied any paper leak and admitted to irregularities. According to a CBI investigation, one individual unauthorizedly took pictures of the question papers in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand, between 8 AM and 9:23 AM on the day of the exam and then left the premises.
The CJI questions the timing for solving papers
CJI, with a note of incredulity, remarked that if such an event took place, then according to you the students received the papers at 10:15 AM. There are 180 questions. Is it feasible that the problems were solved between 9:23 and 10:15 and given to the students in 45 minutes? In other words, the entire paper was solved and distributed within 45 minutes, which seems highly improbable.
NTA admits answers were memorized by over 150 students in one hour
SG conceded that students were made to memorize the paper within one hour. In response to the CJI's query about the 45-minute puzzle, SG explained that there were 7 solvers who distributed the paper to 25 students each. The questions were then solved, and the students paid the gang to remember the answers. The CJI questioned SG whether papers were memorized by 225 students - SG replied, 'I cannot provide the exact figure, but it cannot exceed 150 students.'
The court, however, did not seem convinced with SG's explanation. CJI expressed concern over the 'paper breach' period and the time before the examination, suggesting that the likelihood of a scam decreases the longer the interval. Would someone really pay 75 lakhs for an exam only 45 minutes beforehand? Finally, the court ordered the online upload of all NEET students' marks (city and center-wise), taking into consideration the confidentiality of students.
23 lakh candidates now await the hearing on July 22
Supreme Court refused to halt counseling till Monday. The hearing on July 22 will address petitions on NEET UG counseling, the paper leak case, and demands for cancellation and re-examination. NTA is likely to start the NEET UG counseling process from July 24.
It's worth noting that before the Supreme Court's hearing on Thursday, NTA had submitted its written response. NTA stated that there was no systematic failure in the NEET exam. The incident in Bihar is a criminal activity under investigation. Initially, the investigation began with Bihar Police, was transferred to the EOU wing, and subsequently, NEET-related investigations have been transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation at the national level.
