NEET 2024 SC Hearing Updates: NEET UG 2024 SC next hearing on July 18

While hearing the matter on Monday, the SC had observed that the sanctity of the exam had been “breached”, but ordering a retest depended on whether the alleged breach was at a systemic level and affected the integrity of the entire process, and whether it was possible to segregate the beneficiaries of the fraud from untainted students.

“Out of the 67 students, 6 scored 720 in view of the grace marks awarded and were from the Jhajjar centre where there was a loss of time. Therefore, in view of the retest dated 23.06.2024 in place of grace marks, those 6 candidates have not been able to score 720 in retest. Thus, the total number of actual candidates whose final scorecard reflects 720 marks is 61 only. Secondly, out of 61 candidates, it was only 17 candidates who were obtaining 720/720 marks based on provisional answer keys and 44 are on account of the revision in one answer key of Physics,” NTA said.

The NEET UG 2024 result attracted widespread protests this time over the inflated number of toppers, alleged paper leaks, awarding of grace marks due to a wrong question and loss of exam time, and other irregularities.

During the brief hearing of the NEET UG matter, counsel for the petitioners sought a listing of the pleas on July 15. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta expressed his unavailability on that day. Keeping this in mind, "the further hearing shall be on Thursday (July 18)," a bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said.

Read more details here

“City-wise and centre-wise analysis was done for two years (2023 and 2024) to find out if there are any abnormal indications. The analysis is carried out for the top 1.4 lakh ranks, given that the total number of seats across the country is around 1.1 lakh. This analysis is granular enough to indicate any abnormality, had a large number of students gotten into high ranks (top 5%), due to malpractice or if students from a particular exam centre or city were benefitted. The analysis shows that there is neither any indication of mass malpractice nor a localised set of candidates being benefitted leading to abnormal scores,” the affidavit said.

“There is an overall increase in the marks obtained by students, specifically in the range of 550 to 720. This increase is seen across the cities and centres. This is attributed to 25% reduction in syllabus. In addition, candidates obtaining such high marks are spread across multiple cities and multiple centres, indicating very less likelihood of malpractice,” it said.

“If an exercise is to be conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) and by the Union Government so as to identify any further beneficiaries of the question paper leakage, a considered decision at the policy level would have to be taken by the government on the status of the counselling,” it said.

The IIT Madras data analysis found that “the marks distribution follows the bell-shaped curve that is witnessed in any largescale examination, indicating no abnormality”, the Centre said.

While the CJI first said that the NEET matters will be taken up tomorrow (July 12) as the first item, the SG cited personal difficulty for Monday and Tuesday, and requested to schedule the hearing on Wednesday. As a result of this request, the Supreme Court has now posted the NEET-UG matter to next Thursday (July 18).

NEET UG 2024 matter to be picked tomorrow as the first item, says CJI.

The bench is hearing item 36 now, and will soon take up NEET UG cases

The Supreme Court bench is hearing item 33 right now. NEET matters are listed as item numbers 40 to 45.

The bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud is currently hearing item 32. NEET UG cases are listed as item no. 43.

No, as of now, the NEET SC hearing has not started as the court is hearing other matters that are listed for the day. Since the matter is listed at number 43, it is expected that the hearing will be conducted after lunch (2 pm).

Centre says that the data analytics done by the Indian Institute of Technology Madras shows that there is neither any indication of mass malpractice nor a localized set of candidates being benefitted leading to abnormal scores. The Centre says counselling will be conducted in four rounds starting from the third week of July. For any candidate, if it is found that he/she has been the beneficiary of any malpractice, the candidature of such person would be cancelled at any stage during the counselling process or even afterwards, it says.

(ANI)

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) today (July 11) released the CA final and inter results. Once released, ICAI students will now be able to check and download their May 2024 exam scores from the official websites — icaiexam.icai.org or icai.org or icai.nic.in.

Follow this for live updates 

Data analytics of the NEET-UG 2024 results by IIT-Madras found “no abnormality” and show “that there is neither any indication of mass malpractice nor a localised set of candidates being benefitted leading to abnormal scores”, the Centre told the Supreme Court Wednesday.

On Monday, the court had sought to know whether it would be feasible to use data analytics to identify suspect cases and segregate tainted students from untainted ones.

Responding to this, the Centre, in its affidavit, said the Department of Higher Education had requested the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras to undertake the exercise. “IIT-Madras was also requested to ascertain through data analytics, if there are any suspected cases who could have indulged in wrongdoing and other red flags which indicate any aberration in the spread of top performers/ candidates. A set of parameters, which shall form the basis of the analytics, was also requested to be devised,” the Centre said.

The CBI is likely to file a charge sheet against a youth who allegedly circulated a "doctored" screenshot of the UGC-NET paper on Telegram which led to the cancellation of the exam after an alert from the Union Home Ministry about a possible "breach", officials said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) did not find any large-scale conspiracy in the episode and would limit the charge sheet to offences of attempt to cheat or cheating, they said.

The central agency's probe into the alleged UGC-NET paper leak had found that the screenshot of the "leaked" question paper for the June 18 exam was "doctored" by a school student, the officials said.

The CBI has informally conveyed its findings to the government and is likely to file a charge sheet against the youth, they said. More than 11 lakh candidates had registered for the exam which determines eligibility for junior research fellowship, appointment as assistant professors and admission to PhD in Indian universities and colleges.

(PTI)

In the Supreme Court, the NTA NEET UG 2024 case is listed on number 43. 

The CBI probe into the alleged UGC-NET paper leak has found that the “evidence”, which led the Education Ministry to cancel the exam just a day after over 9 lakh candidates appeared for it across 317 cities on June 18, was doctored, government sources told The Indian Express. Read more here.

Data analytics of the NEET-UG 2024 results by IIT-Madras found “no abnormality” and show “that there is neither any indication of mass malpractice nor a localised set of candidates being benefitted leading to abnormal scores”, the Centre told the Supreme Court Wednesday.

The Supreme Court hearing on NEET row is today, July 11. 

'Assuming that we are not going to cancel the exam, what are we going today to identify the beneficiaries of the fraud? What have the govt done so far to identify the beneficiaries?,' says CJI

'In a situation where breach affects entirety of process and it's not possible to segregate beneficiaries from others, it may be necessary to order re-exam,' says CJI.

NTA has been asked to make disclosures on the steps taken so far for identification of beneficiaries:

(1) the steps which were taken by NTA to identify centres/cities where leak took place

(2) modalities followed for identifying

(3) number of students who have so far been identified to be beneficiaries

A three-judge bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud said if the question paper leak was taking place through Telegram, WhatsApp and electronic means, then “it spreads like wildfire”. The judges have asked for disclosures from the exam conducting body NTA. The next hearing will take place on July 11.

The education ministry, in its affidavit filed with the top court only acknowledged that there were “instances of irregularities, cheating, impersonation, malpractices” during the conduct of NEET UG. However, there is no mention of a paper leak. It goes on to state further that “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”.

"The matter was heard for about two hours by the CJI bench. After hearing, the court has passed a detailed order, where all the main contentions of the petitioners who are seeking reexamination have been recorded. CBI has been directed to file a status report with the regard to the examination. NTA and Government of India have also been asked to file their status report, detailing as to what steps they have taken to segregate the tainted from the untainted, and further action will be taken on the next date. No interim order has been passed today with regard to counselling," says advocate Narendra Hooda to PTI on Supreme Court hearing NEET case.

The Supreme Court on today's hearing said that if the sanctity of the medical entrance exam NEET-UG 2024 is "lost" and if the leak of its question paper has been propagated through social media, then a re-test has to be ordered.A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud also said if the question paper leak was taking place through Telegram, WhatsApp and electronic means, then "it spreads like wildfire"."One thing is clear that leak of question paper has taken place," the bench, also comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said.

(PTI)

Supreme Court asks that affidavits by NTA, Centre and the CBI be placed on record at 5 pm on Wednesday. Supreme Court posts the matter for hearing on July 11.

(ANI)

Supreme Court says it was apprised that FIRs were registered in Patna, Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Jharkhand. Whether the FIR in relation to paper leak is confined to Patna is a matter which requires detailed consideration, says the apex court.

(ANI)

"It will have to be scrutinized whether: (1) alleged breach has taken place at a systemic level (2) whether the breach has affected integrity of entire exam process (3) whether it's possible to segregate beneficiaries of fraud from untainted students,' dictates CJI.

According to PTI, the CBI has arrested a person in connection with alleged "manipulation" in the NEET-UG examination in Latur in Maharashtra, taking the total number of arrests by the agency to nine, officials said. The CBI took into custody one Nanjunethappa G in connection with the Latur case which was earlier probed by the Maharashtra Police, they said. It is alleged that two government school teachers in Latur had demanded over Rs five lakh from NEET UG aspirants to ensure their success in the examination, they said.

Following is the chronology of events in the NEET-UG 2024 case in which the Supreme Court on Monday observed that the sanctity of the exam is "breached" given  the question paper leak: 
* May 5: NTA conducted NEET-UG 2024 at 4,750 centres in 571 cities, including 14 cities abroad.
* May 17: SC seeks responses from Centre and NTA on plea alleging irregularities in NEET-UG 2024 held on May 5.
* June 4: Results for NEET-UG 2024 declared, 67 candidates bagged top rank.
* June 11: Observing that sanctity of NEET-UG 2024 has been affected, the SC sought responses from the Centre and the NTA on a plea seeking holding of a fresh examination on grounds of alleged question paper leak and other malpractices.
* June 13: Centre tells SC it has cancelled grace marks given to 1,563 candidates who took the NEET-UG examination for admission to MBBS and other such courses. Centre says they will have the option to either take a re-test or forgo the compensatory marks awarded to them for loss of time.
* June 14: SC sought responses from the Centre and the NTA on a plea seeking a CBI probe into allegations of question paper leak and other irregularities in NEET-UG 2024.
* June 18: SC said even if there was "0.001 per cent negligence" on the part of anyone in the conduct of the NEET-UG 2024 examination, it should be thoroughly dealt with.
* June 23: As many as 813 of the 1,563 candidates who were earlier awarded grace marks in NEET-UG appeared for a re-test, officials said.
* July 1: Number of candidates sharing top rank in medical entrance test NEET-UG reduced to 61 from 67 as the NTA announced revised results.
* July 5: Scrapping NEET-UG 2024 exam in entirety would "seriously jeopardise" lakhs of honest candidates and not be rational in the absence of any proof of large-scale breach of confidentiality, the Centre told the SC.
* July 11: NTA tells SC that cancellation of NEET-UG 2024 would be hugely counterproductive and significantly harmful to the larger public interest, especially to the career prospects of those who cleared it. 

-- PTI

On the outskirts of Gujarat’s Godhra, located on the crossroads leading to Dahod and Vadodara, is the multi-storied Jay Jalaram School. Despite being at the centre of an all-India investigation in connection with the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) paper leaks case, it’s just another school day.

This school, along with another one in Padal in Kheda district that’s run by the Jay Jalaram Trust, were designated centres for the NEET-UG examination held on May 5. According to the CBI investigation, the staff of the school, including Principal Purshottam Mahavirprasad Sharma and geography teacher Tushar Rajnikant Bhatt, were to allegedly help candidates fill in their incomplete OMR sheets after the exams, before their plan was foiled by a tip-off.

On the outskirts of Gujarat’s Godhra, located on the crossroads leading to Dahod and Vadodara, is the multi-storied Jay Jalaram School. Despite being at the centre of an all-India investigation in connection with the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) paper leaks case, it’s just another school day.

This school, along with another one in Padal in Kheda district that’s run by the Jay Jalaram Trust, were designated centres for the NEET-UG examination held on May 5. According to the CBI investigation, the staff of the school, including Principal Purshottam Mahavirprasad Sharma and geography teacher Tushar Rajnikant Bhatt, were to allegedly help candidates fill in their incomplete OMR sheets after the exams, before their plan was foiled by a tip-off.

The court said it wants to know the steps taken by the government and NTA to identify the beneficiaries “because we have to be ruthless in identifying the beneficiaries”. Mehta submitted that the results of those identified had been withheld.

The bench said it wants to know how many have been identified. “Overall in the entire country…how many students are there whose results have been withheld, we won’t say systemic, as a result of the leakage? Where are those students situated? We want to know the geographical distribution of the students. Are they in one state? Are they in multiple states?” the CJI sought to know. “If we have no go, we will have to cancel the exams, but as a court, this cancellation of the test of this nature, 23 lakh students, is a matter of extreme last resort,” he said.

The CJI also sought to know “how many of them are from 1563 beneficiaries of added grace marks (granted to compensate for the lack of sufficient time to give exams)? Also students who get exceptionally high marks in NEET, but whose performance is not up to that in the 12th. But there again, there is a problem. Students don’t study as hard for the 12th as they do for NEET,” said the CJI.

He added, “if we have to separate the greens from the chaff, we will have to identify certain red flags. Those who fall in the red flag category, we may have to hold a limited rate for that category alone.”

Appearing for the government and NTA, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said, “We examined the pattern of the hundred top ranking students. It showed they were distributed among 95 centres located in 56 cities, which are spread out in 18 states, union territories.”

The court wondered if it’s possible to identify some red flags and apply data analytics to it to separate the grain from the chaff. Pointing out that a higher number of students securing 720 marks out of 720 this year compared with previous years, can be a red flag, the CJI said, “Everybody who gets 720 is not a fraudster. There may still be people who are extraordinary, bright in that 720 out of 720. But we found that for the previous years, the proportion was very low. This year it suddenly goes up to 67.”

On the demand for a retest, the court said, “We have to see what was the modality in which the leak took place. If the modality of the leak is through electronic means, social media, then there is a possibility that the leak is extremely wide.”

The CJI said, “We are flagging these issues. We want you to give a comprehensive analysis of dates because if the leak is taking place through telegram, WhatsApp… social media, or an electronic means of communication, (it) spreads like wildfire. On the other hand, we must also balance it out with the time in which the leak takes place. If it’s more or less on the morning of May 5, then the time between when the leak takes place and students have to go for the examination is very limited.”

It asked the NTA to inform the court about the steps taken to identify the leak’s beneficiaries, the steps taken to identify the centres/ cities where the leak took place, the modalities followed to identify the leak’s beneficiaries, and how the leak was disseminated. The court also asked the Centre and the NTA to inform whether it would be feasible to use data analytics to identify suspect cases and segregate tainted students from untainted ones.

It would be necessary for the government to set up a multi-disciplinary team of renowned experts to ensure due measures are taken to obviate any future breaches, the Supreme Court said. The bench asked the government to inform it about the constitution of the committee so that the court could take a call on whether there needed to be any additions to it.

“We are of the view that an order on merits would have to be deferred. NTA is directed to make full disclosure before the court… in three areas – nature of leak, places where the leak took place, and the lag of time between leak and conduct of the exam,” the court said. It asked the NTA to clarify “when the leak first took place, the manner in which the question papers leaked were disseminated” and “the time duration between the occurrence of leak and the exam on May 5”.

The top court also asked the CBI to file a report on the investigation’s status as of Monday, July 8, and on material that has come to light until now.

“If we are not able to identify candidates who are guilty of wrongdoing, the retest has to be ordered. If you can’t distinguish the grain from the chaff, tainted from the untainted, it has to be ordered…,” said Chandrachud.

The consequence of the leak depended on the nature of the leak, he said. “…we are conscious of the fact that we are dealing with the careers of 23 lakh students. Asking 23 lakh students to reappear for an examination together with the preparation, cost travel, and dislocation of admission schedule…,” the CJI said.

The Supreme Court fixed July 11 as the next date of hearing and said it would decide on the merits after the government, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and the National Testing Agency (NTA), file their response to its queries. The NTA conducts the NEET UG exams and the CBI has been probing cases linked to the alleged leaks.

The court also directed the Centre, the NTA and the CBI to file their affidavits by 5 pm July 10 and share these with the petitioners as well.

“The fact that the sanctity of the examination has been breached… compromised, is beyond doubt. Now the question is how widespread is the breach,” Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud said while hearing petitions of those seeking as well as those opposing cancellation of the May 5 NEET UG exams over paper leak allegations.

Observing that self-denial is only adding to the problem, the Supreme Court on Julu 8 said it was clear a leak has taken place in the NEET UG 2024 examination, but ordering a retest depends on whether the alleged breach was at a systemic level and affected the integrity of the entire process, and whether it was possible to segregate the beneficiaries of the fraud from untainted students

Having stopped the BJP at less than a majority in the Lok Sabha, the INDIA bloc is now expanding its relationship. On Monday, the youth wings of the INDIA parties came together under the umbrella of the ‘India Youth Front’ (IYF), drawing activists from across the country, for a demonstration at Jantar Mantar against alleged irregularities in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) – an issue the INDIA parties have been raising consistently, including inside Parliament.

The Congress’s Indian Youth Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party’s Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti, the CPI’s All India Youth Federation, the IUML’s Youth Muslim League, the Samajwadi Party’s Samajwadi Yuvjan Sabha, the RJD’s Youth RJD, Pappu Yadav’s Jan Adhikar Party’s youth wing, the Youth Shiv Sena and the Democratic Youth Federation of India were among the organisations represented at the protest.

Two more persons, including a candidate, have been arrested by the CBI from Patna in connection with the alleged NEET-UG paper leak, taking the total number of arrests by the agency to 11.

“NEET-UG aspirant Sunny who hails from Nalanda and the father of another candidate Ranjit Kumar who is from Gaya have been arrested,” an official said.

On the outskirts of Gujarat’s Godhra, located on the crossroads leading to Dahod and Vadodara, is the multi-storied Jay Jalaram School. Despite being at the centre of an all-India investigation in connection with the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) paper leaks case, it’s just another school day.

This school, along with another one in Padal in Kheda district that’s run by the Jay Jalaram Trust, were designated centres for the NEET-UG examination held on May 5. According to the CBI investigation, the staff of the school, including Principal Purshottam Mahavirprasad Sharma and geography teacher Tushar Rajnikant Bhatt, were to allegedly help candidates fill in their incomplete OMR sheets after the exams, before their plan was foiled by a tip-off.