New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday (August 2) criticised the National Testing Agency (NTA) for its inconsistent decisions regarding the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate) (NEET-UG) 2024 exam, citing “flip flops” that harmed students’ interests, Live Law reported.
The court’s detailed judgment explained its July 23 order, which refused to cancel the exam despite paper leaks and malpractices.
“We have said that the NTA must now avoid the flip flops which it has made in this case. These flip-flops in the NTA does not serve the interest of the students,” Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud was quoted as saying by Live Law.
The court highlighted the NTA’s lapses, including allowing candidates to change exam centres and opening a “rear door” for new registrations. It also questioned the decision to award grace marks to students who received wrong question papers, only to later retract it and make them retake the test.
CJI Chandrachud highlighted another lapse by the NTA, where they initially granted grace marks to students who chose an alternative option for a question with ambiguous wording. However, an expert panel from IIT Delhi later determined that the question had only one correct answer. Consequently, the court instructed the NTA to revise the results accordingly. Notably, the NTA’s initial decision to accept two answers as correct led to 44 students scoring a perfect 720 marks, as observed by CJI Chandrachud.
The CJI emphasised the need for the NTA to avoid such inconsistencies, which do not serve students’ interests, the report mentioned.
The Supreme Court bench bench comprising CJI Chandrachud as well as Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra has issued further guidelines to the expert committee established by the Union government on June 22 to strengthen the exam process.
The committee is tasked with assessing and enhancing security measures, developing a standard operating procedure (SOP) for registration, change of exam centres and OMR sheet handling, and exploring measures to prevent malpractices. Specifically, the committee will:
– Evaluate the exam centre allocation processes
– Consider comprehensive CCTV monitoring at all centres
– Enhance paper printing, transportation and storage protocols
– Explore secure transportation options (the viability of using closed vehicles with real-time locks rather than open e-rickshaws for transportation)
– Implement robust identity checks and technological innovations to prevent impersonation, while adhering to privacy laws.
The court has directed the committee to submit its report by September 30. The Ministry of Education will then develop an implementation plan within a month and inform the court of the progress two weeks later.
The judgment came in response to petitions seeking to cancel the NEET-UG exam due to paper leaks and malpractices. The court found that the leak was localised and did not affect the exam’s overall sanctity, but acknowledged the need for improvements in the exam process.
