The Supreme Court issued notices to private parties on Monday in response to a series of pleas by the National Testing Agency (NTA) seeking the transfer of cases concerning the NEET-UG 2024 controversy from various high courts to the apex court. This move aims to prevent multiple litigations on the issue.
Earlier, a vacation bench had already issued similar notices on June 14. The NTA argued that several petitions seeking the cancellation of NEET-UG 2024 due to allegations of question paper leaks and other irregularities are currently pending in multiple high courts.
Advocate Vardhaman Kaushik, representing the NTA, urged Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala on Monday to transfer the new batch of petitions to the Supreme Court, citing the similarity in issues.
The bench responded by issuing notices and deciding to consolidate these petitions with the existing cases related to NEET-UG scheduled for hearing on July 18. The NTA also requested the bench to stay proceedings in various high courts, to which the Chief Justice clarified that once the Supreme Court issues transfer notices, high courts typically suspend their proceedings.
The Supreme Court was addressing five petitions seeking the transfer of cases from high courts to itself during the hearing. Earlier, on July 11, the bench had adjourned the hearing on other petitions seeking cancellation, re-test, and investigation into alleged malpractices in NEET-UG 2024 due to incomplete responses from the Centre and the NTA.
Additionally, the court received a status report from the CBI on its investigation progress into alleged irregularities during the exam.
In an affidavit filed on July 10, the Centre informed the Supreme Court that data analytics conducted by IIT Madras did not indicate widespread malpractice or abnormal score distributions among candidates. This statement was crucial following the Supreme Court’s July 8 observation that it might order a re-test if large-scale malpractices were found.
The NTA also submitted a separate affidavit confirming similar findings of mark distribution analysis at national, state, and city levels.
NEET-UG, conducted by the NTA, determines admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH, and related courses across government and private institutions nationwide. The Supreme Court’s involvement comes amidst concerns over the integrity of the examination process, prompted by allegations of breaches during the May 5 exam, which saw participation from over 23.33 lakh students at numerous centers globally.
