SC rebukes NTA over lapses in planning, conduct of NEET-UG 2024 — ‘precisely the reason why it exists’

The court also said that manner in which NEET was held on 5 May 'gives rise to serious concerns'. It made these observations while disposing of a clutch of petitions seeking reexamination.

Representational image of students waiting outside Supreme Court | Photo: ANI, Ritik Jain

New Delhi: Lack of responsible decision making; serious lapses in security and in organisation of exams, such as no specified time by which the OMR sheets were required to be sealed after the conclusion of the examination; officials conducting exams not being fit for duty, flip-flops in decision making — these were the broader observations made by the Supreme Court on the conduct of the National Testing Agency (NTA) in organising the NEET examination earlier this year.

Additionally, the court in its judgment said that the manner in which the NEET was held on 5 May “gives rise to serious concerns”.

The apex court made these observations while disposing of a clutch of petitions filed seeking reexamination on the grounds of breach of sanctity and several lapses by the exam conducting body. The court, on 23 July, had already declined to order re-examination of NEET citing “serious consequences” for approximately 23 lakh students who had appeared in the examination.

Highlighting the plethora of lapses by the NTA, the Court noted exams such as NEET require immense resources, coordination, and planning which are the “precise” reasons for which the NTA is in place.

“While the various issues discussed until now do not lead to the conclusion that the integrity of the NEET was vitiated at a systemic level, the manner in which NTA has organised the exam this year gives rise to serious concerns,” a three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra noted in the order.

“The Court is cognisant of the fact that national-level exams with participation from tens of lakhs of students require immense resources, coordination, and planning. But that is precisely the reason for the existence of a body such as NTA. It is no excuse to say that the exam is conducted in myriad centres or that a large number of aspirants appear for the exam. NTA has sufficient resources at its disposal. It has adequate funding, time, and opportunities to organise exams such as the NEET without lapses of the kind that occurred this year,” the bench further noted in the order.

‘Matter of serious concern’

Explaining the “serious lapse” in the security, the apex court noted that the question paper for the NEET examination was leaked in Hazaribagh as an unauthorised person gained access to the strong room.

The court also pulled up NTA for transportation of question papers through private couriers and on e-rickshaws.

The court further referred to a point raised by petitioners’ lawyer Advocate Narender Hooda that there was no timeline stipulated by the NTA for sealing of OMR sheets filled by aspirants after the conclusion of the examination.

The NTA, the court said, relies on “persons over whom it does not exercise direct oversight” to be the invigilators in exams such as NEET and that steps should be taken to increase the oversight over these invigilators to decrease the chance of unfair means in the conduct of examinations.

Delving deeper into the shortcomings of the NTA, the court said that either its city’s coordinators were not up to the job or they were not communicated properly by the NTA officials that led to a situation where aspirants at 12 examination centres were distributed with wrong set of question papers.

The court reiterated that the correct set of question papers which were to be distributed were kept with State Bank of India, but at 12 centres, a different set of question papers were distributed which were kept with Canara Bank.

Neither bank was notified properly whether it had to release question papers held in their possession, the court noted.

“Had the custodian banks been informed whether or not to release the papers in their possession, the city coordinators would have been unable to collect the incorrect set of question papers, even if they made an honest mistake. NTA must consider the various possibilities and plan the protocol to be followed after careful consideration,” the court observed.

The court noted that the number of aspirants who scored a perfect 720 out of total 720 marks available dropped drastically from 67 to 17 after various rounds of court’s interventions, such as removal of compensatory marks and re-examination of 1,563 candidates.

“It is a matter of serious concern that this number fell from sixty-seven to seventeen during the course of the hearing. The intervention of the Court, reports by the media, and representations by candidates ensured that these changes were made in the interests of fairness and justice. However, the system adopted by NTA should be such that just outcomes are reached even when these external catalysts are not present. The system must be such as to inspire public confidence,” the court said.

It also flayed the flip-flop by a committee constituted by the NTA on the issue of giving compensatory marks to 1,563 students, which decided to give grace marks to the students. However, the court noted, as controversy erupted over imparting grace marks, another committee of NTA decided to revoke the earlier stance of the NTA’s committee to give grace marks.

“A body such as NTA which is entrusted with immense responsibility in relation to highly important competitive exams cannot afford to misstep, take an incorrect decision, and amend it at a later stage. All decisions must be well-considered, with due regard to the importance of the decision. Flipflops are an anathema to fairness,” the court said.