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The Supreme Court on Friday said it will have a detailed hearing on pleas seeking disclosure of answer keys, question papers of NEET PG 2024 held on August 11 in order to ensure transparency in the selection process. The bench directed for the matter to be listed on a “non-miscellaneous day” while outlining the requirement for a detailed hearing.
Appearing before a bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, advocate Tanvi Dubey, representing some students, said the information memorandum was not published and there was not even a standard operating procedure in place on how exams were conducted. She said even states were confused over the counselling procedure.
One of the petitions, filed through Dubey, challenged the “arbitrary action” on the part of National Board of Examinations (NBE) for not releasing the answer key and the question paper. It alleged there was no option for a revaluation and rechecking in case of a difference in the expected and actual marks.
Students have raised concerns about the transparency of results and normalisation process followed by the National Board of Examinations for Medical Sciences (NBEMS). The petition was submitted on September 7 and was earlier heard on September 13.
Senior lawyer Vibha Datta Makhija, also representing students, submitted there were neither any rule nor clarity and the exam was split into two parts three days prior to the test.
“There needs to be a standardised approach,” said Makhija while pointing out no regulations governed the conduct of the exams.
“Everything was dependent on a single information bulletin which can be modified at the whims and fancies of the authorities,” she had said.
Another plea, filed by Ishika Jain and others, sought the disclosure of answer keys, question papers of NEET-PG, 2024, and standardisation of marks as the test was split into two parts for ensuring transparency in the selection process.
A three-judge bench, led by the Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, and including Justice Manoj Misra and Justice JB Pardiwala, heard the case on September 20 regarding the normalisation of marks, answer keys, and the results of the medical entrance exam.
The petitioners in the first hearing requested that the NBE should release the NEET PG answer key, response sheets, raw and pre-normalized scores, and normalized results for all shifts. They are also asked for the release of the NEET PG answer keys and question papers to become a standard practice to ensure transparency. Additionally, the petitioners requested the court to suspend the counselling process until all concerns are addressed.
This year, NEET PG was being conducted in two shifts, instead of the usual one single-shift format. The exam was conducted on August 11 in two shifts — first from 9 am to 12:30 pm and the next from 3:30 to 7 pm. With the new system in place, the Board had to adopt normalisation process.
“NBEMS has adopted the process which is currently being used by AIIMS-New Delhi for its various examinations conducted in more than one shift including but not limited to INI-CET, in preparation of result for NEET-PG 2024,” the official NBEMS notice stated.
(With PTI inputs)
