NEET UG 2024 SC Hearing Updates: Next SC hearing on NEET case on Monday

While students wait for NEET UG Supreme Court verdict and a final date for counselling of the 2024 academic session, the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) on July 16 issued a notice inviting medical colleges to enter their seats at the official portal – mcc.nic.in.

The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) has released the list of test cities for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, Postgraduate (NEET PG) 2024. NBEMBS also clarified that the test city and test centre communicated in the admit cards issued earlier for NEET PG 2024 which was to be held on June 23 is no longer valid.

Pune City Youth Congress held a protest at BalGandharva Chowk on July 18, amid the NEET controversy, chanting slogans against the Centre and National Testing Agency (NTA), and calling for the NEET-UG exam to be held again.

Mired in controversy with allegations of cheating and paper leaks, the NEET-UG exam administered on May 5 this year has become a subject of debate.

NTA, the exam's administering organisation, has come under heavy criticism after the bungle up which sparked protests and legal actions all across the country.

“Students are experiencing stress, anxiety and lack of confidence because of irregularities in the system. The government should stop taking such matters lightly, as this has a direct impact on the career prospects of students. Henceforth, a decision needs to be taken in the interest of students,” said Ajay Chikara, secretary, Pune City Youth Congress.

The Institute of Company Secretaries (ICSI) has today released the Company Secretary Executive Entrance Test (CSEET) result at 2 pm. The students who appeared for this session of CSEET may check their scores on the official website of ICSI – icsi.edu.

The Supreme Court Thursday asked the National Testing Agency (NTA) to publish city-wise and centre-wise NEET-UG 2024 examination results of all 23 lakh candidates, masking their identities, on its website by 12 pm Saturday.

“We direct the NTA to publish the marks obtained by students at the UG-2024 NEET examination, while, at the same time, without disclosing the identity of the students. The result should be declared city and centre-wise by 12 noon on 20 July 2024 and shall be uploaded on the website of the NTA,” a three-judge bench presided by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud ordered.

The Supreme Court on Thursday (July 18) directed the National Testing Agency (NTA) to release the result of all candidates who appeared for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, Undergraduate (NEET UG) 2024 on May 5.

“We direct the NTA to publish the marks obtained by students at the UG-2024 NEET examination, while, at the same time, without disclosing the identity of the students. The result should be declared city and centre-wise by 12 noon on 20 July 2024 and shall be uploaded on the website of the NTA,” a three-judge bench presided by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud ordered.

The cancellation of UGC-NET exams and delay in CUET UG result announcement have jeopardized Jawaharlal Nehru University's (JNU) academic calendars, said Vice Chancellor Santishree D Pandit on Friday. Speaking to ANI, Santishree denied reports that the university will shorten winter break and hold extra classes in view of delayed admission, stating that no decision has been taken in this regard.

'JNU faculty will decide how they manage the three different academic calendars (for UG courses, PG courses and PhD programmes),' she said. 'I hope that UGC NET and CUET UG results come fast because that has totally jeopardized our academic calendar so we will have three different Academy calendars, one for the Masters, one for the UG and one for the PhD. And JNU is a bottom-up approach. So it is the chairpersons, the deans who will decide how they will run these semesters,' she added.

The Education Ministry late on June 19 announced the cancellation of the UGC-NET examination after inputs from the Ministry of Home Affairs suggested that the integrity of the examinations had been compromised.

(ANI)

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has taken into custody a first-year MBBS student of the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi in connection with the NEET-UG paper leak case. The student was interrogated on Wednesday, following which she was taken into custody on Thursday.

"The student belonged to the 2023 batch which is a first-year student and she is now under the custody of CBI. They initially approached the administration for some initial information from the student and yesterday they again approached for further investigation in the same and then they proceeded with the custody of the student," Rajiv Ranjan, the RIMS Public Relations Official said.

Ranjan said that the CBI had earlier approached the medical institution for more information and the administration is ready to offer its support for the investigation.

(ANI)

The Supreme Court on Friday sought responses from the Centre and others on a plea challenging a decision of the National Medical Commission (NMC) to not conduct NEET-Super Speciality examination in 2024.

The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Super Speciality (NEET-SS) can be taken by doctors having post-graduate degrees like MD, MS, and DNB, or an equivalent qualification for admission to super-speciality courses.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra was told by a lawyer, appearing for 13 aspirants, that the NMC has decided to not hold the exam this year. As per news reports, NEET-SS is likely to be conducted in January 2025.

(PTI)

After the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday arrested four medical students from AIIMS Patna in connection with the NEET-UG paper leak case, Dr Gopal Krushna Pal, Director of AIIMS Patna said that the medical institute will take action if the students are found guilty.

Speaking with ANI, Dr Pal said, "The report that CBI has arrested them (medical students) is true. CBI has also given us information that our four students have been formally arrested. But still now, we have not got anything in writing..." He further said, "Our administrative committee meeting was held today and we discussed the issue and the decision was that the students can be suspended, but subject again to the legal opinion. We are keeping this suspension order in abeyance until we receive any written document." The AIIMS Director further said that when CBI's written reply comes that they have four students in judicial custody, we will wait for some time.

"Till the students are not found guilty, we cannot take any decision that they will be suspended as it is a matter of their career. If they are found guilty, we will take action," Dr Pal said. As per the CBI sources, the four accused, identified as Karan Jain, Kumar Sanu, Rahul Anand and Chandan Singh used to solve papers for the main accused, Pankaj Singh.

(ANI)

The National Testing Agency (NTA) today (July 20) has released the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET UG) 2024 results for all the students city and centre-wise. The candidates who appeared for the test can check their city and centre-wise results on the official website – exams.nta.ac.in/NEET/.

The National Testing Agency (NTA) will today, July 20 release the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET UG) 2024 results for all the students city and centre-wise. The candidates who appeared for the test can check their city and centre-wise NEET UG results on the official website – exams.nta.ac.in/NEET/.

While adjourning the NEET case till Monday, the SC has asked NTA to publish the results, after the petitioners complained that they are not able to ascertain the centre-wise marking pattern since the NTA had not published the results of all candidates.

Hooda, appearing for the lead petitioners, submitted that the candidates are at a "handicap" since neither the CBI status report is shared with them nor the entire results have been published.

The Bench will resume hearing the NEET petitions on Monday at 10:30 am, and will 'hopefully conclude this before lunch'.

'Results of all students -- city-wise and centre-wise -- should be uploaded online by Saturday, 12 pm,' directs SC.

Only 80 students from Hazaribagh were able to qualify in the top 1.08 lakh students, says NTA counsel.

“One gang member who was also at Hazaribagh sent it by WhatsApp (to Patna). Their model is not to allow students to take photographs…," said Solicitor General  in Supreme Court

NEET-UG was conducted at 4,750 exam centres in 571 cities, including 14 cities abroad. In 2023, 4,097 centres in 499 cities were designated to conduct the test; in 2022, there were 3,547 centres in 497 cities. The rationale for the increase in centres was to ensure more coverage of rural areas.

Drawing on the Centre’s argument that there was very little time after the alleged breach and the students were asked to memorise the answers, the CJI said, “That means prior to May 5 morning, somebody had solved the question paper.. If somebody had solved the question paper, certainly it doesn’t go to 5th morning. It has to go at least to the night between May 4 and 5 in which case the leak has occurred sometime prior to the night intervening May 4 and 5.”

“There are two distinct possibilities. Either it gets leaked before the question papers are lodged in the custody of the Canara Bank and SBI which means the leak has taken place before May 3. The alternate hypothesis is that the leak takes place after the question papers are distributed from the banks and are bound for the centres,” Chandrachud said.

However, CJI counter-argued that it seems impossible to solve 180 questions in 45 minutes and make students learn the answers too. "If the students got the question papers at about 10.15 am, is it possible for someone to prepare answers and put it together for students in just 45 minutes," he asked.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said they had an hour and the 180 questions were divided among seven problem solvers, each getting 25. Since the question paper for each candidate would be shuffled, the candidates were asked to memorise it, he said. So far, the investigation has been able to identify 18 students who were allegedly involved in the “breach”, he said.

The bench comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra also questioned the Centre’s stand that the alleged leak of question papers in Hazaribagh had occurred just one hour before the start of the exam, and termed it far-fetched.

“The whole hypothesis that within 45 minutes to an hour, not only was there a breach, but the entire question paper was solved…it is very far fetched…,” said CJI Chandrachud.

The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) has released the list of test cities for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, Postgraduate (NEET PG) 2024. 

The candidates who were issued NEET PG 2024 admit cards earlier will now be required to choose their test city again by exercising their choices of preferred test cities during an online window which shall be opened from July 19 to 22 (11:55 pm) at the official website — natboard.edu.in.

The allocated test city will be communicated to all concerned candidates through email on July 29, following which the test venue will be intimated through admit card which will be released on August 8.

Read more here

“We direct the NTA to publish the marks obtained by students at the UG-2024 NEET examination, while, at the same time, without disclosing the identity of the students. The result should be declared city and centre-wise by 12 noon on 20 July 2024 and shall be uploaded on the website of the NTA,” a three-judge bench presided by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud ordered.

Read complete report here

"The petitioners have submitted that it would be appropriate if the results of the NEET-UG 24 exam are published on the website so as to bring about some transparency on the centre-wise marks obtained by candidates.

We direct the NTA to publish the marks obtained by students in the NEET-UG 24 exam while at the same time ensuring that the identity of the students is masked. The results should be declared in relation to each centre and city separately."

The next hearing of all NEET matters is on July 22, Monday.

A bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra passed the order asking NTA to publish all results online.

While adjourning the NEET case till Monday, the SC has asked NTA to publish the results, after the petitioners complained that they are not able to ascertain the centre-wise marking pattern since the NTA had not published the results of all candidates.

Hooda, appearing for the lead petitioners, submitted that the candidates are at a "handicap" since neither the CBI status report is shared with them nor the entire results have been published.

The Centre and the NTA have opposed the demand for re-test stating that the malpractices are localised and that the sanctity of the exam has not been affected. However, the petitioners have argued that the nature of the leak is widespread and claimed that the paper was leaked before May 3, while the exam was on May 5.

While hearing a batch of nearly 40 petitions related to the medical entrance exam NEET-UG 2024, the Supreme Court now has asked the NTA to declare results of all students centre and city-wise by July 20.

Listed as items 5 to 9, in today’s hearing, the NTA counsel, Solicitor General and petitioners’ advocate(s) argued over the authenticity of IIT Madras’ data analysis report, alleged leak through Telegram and the nature of spread of the paper and more.

The Bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra will resume hearing the NEET petitions on Monday at 10.30 am.

On NTA's request, the Supreme Court grants time till Saturday noon to the NTA to publish the NEET results.

The CJI while hearing the NEET UG matter, said that the NEET city and centre-wise results be uploaded by 5 pm tomorrow.

'Results of all students -- city-wise and centre-wise -- should be uploaded online by Saturday, 12 pm,' directs SC.

Supreme Court directs NTA to publish marks of all students of NEET UG 2024, but by masking roll numbers in form of 'dummy roll numbers in a sequence centre-wise'

Supreme Court refuses to stay counselling for now, till Monday. 

'Counselling will take two three months. It will start on July 24 or so,' says SG.

'We will hear on Monday itself,' says CJI.

The Bench will resume hearing the NEET petitions on Monday at 10:30 am, and will 'hopefully conclude this before lunch'.

Only 80 students from Hazaribagh were able to qualify in the top 1.08 lakh students, says NTA counsel.

Adv Hooda tries to convice the Bench that the NEET UG paper leak conspiracy was hatched a month ago.

'In Godhra, it was agreed that the Geogrpahy lecturer Tushar Bhatt will fill the blank OMR sheets. Common sense says a geography teacher cannot solve it unless he has the paper leaked,' Adv Hooda says in response to CJI's question on whether a similar plot was drawn in any other part of the country

'What is worrying us is, how much was the period between the breach occurred and the exam? If the time period is 3 days, obviously there is a greater danger. Will somebody pay Rs 75,000 for 45 minutes?' questions CJI.

'Students got only 2 hours to memorise the questions. That is why only out of 18 students, only one student is possibly getting admission, but now he will face debarment,' argues Solicitor General

CJI: Assuming that happens, according to you that students got papers at 10.15 AM. There are 180 questions. Is it possible that between 9.30 and 10.15 that there are problem solvers and putting them to students in 45 minutes?

SG: There were 7 solvers and they divided 25 students each. The questions were jumbled and so students were made to memorize.

CJI: The whole hypotheses that entire paper was solved in 45 minutes and given to students is too far fetched

SG: ...one hour

CJI: ...okay but even one hour seems far fetched.

CJI: According to you when the leak took place?

SG: There is no leak...

CJI: Okay, when the breach took place?

SG:  It was in a particular centre, between 8.02 AM to 9.23 AM a person goes in, photographs the paper and comes out

'If students were made to memorise the answers on the morning of May 5, it is highly unlikely that the question paper was solved and children were made to memorise all this in the morning itself, so that paper leak may have happened before May 5?' asks CJI.

Adv Hooda reads out a statement of one of the candidates ( Anurag Yadav) who has been arrested by Bihar Police, stating that paper leak happened on May 4. However, the SG refutes that the translation of the statement is not accurate.

While Hooda claims that NTA transported question papers in an e-rickshaw, the Solicitor General clarified that it is OMR sheets, and not question papers.

'Telegram videos indicate that on 4th May, the question papers were circulating. It was the original question papers. The time is 9 AM. The NTA wants this Court to disbelieve. The date and time they show is not a date and time which can appear in a Telegram channel. It is a watermark. It is not a date and time. Date and time appears like the one which is appearing in page (in the petitioners' submission),' Hooda said (as per LiveLaw)

While NTA and Solictor General are claiming that the NEET paper leak video on Telegram is doctored, Adv Hooda has disputed this stand. 

'Telegram channel has an inbuilt feature that if there is a change, it will be reflected. From that, it is known that this was circulated after the exam.,' says Solicitor General, supporting NTA's argument that the Telegram video is doctored.

'Dissemination of the leaked paper was happening on the May 3 itself. Evidence of Telegram videos show that the solved papers were being circulated on May 4 itself,' claims Hooda.

'This trunk (containing papers) was found travelling on an e-rickshaw on the 3rd May in Hazaribagh under the open sky and it was received by the Principal of the school... there are pictures of this incident. The CBI has arrested the Principal. The NTA affidavit does not refer to this,' alleges Hooda.

Hooda reads out from NTA affidavit about how the question paper was transported to Hazaribagh school.

'CBI has investigated the entire chain from the printers to the centre, how there was sealing, GPS tracking....there are digital lockers...I have given that detail. There is a 7-layer safety system,' explains SG.

CJI asks for proof of increase in NEET UG syllabus

Hooda : The number of candidates in the 550-720 candidates is five-fold.

CJI : Can this be an indication of a leak?

Hooda : It is a red flag.

'We received 15,000 new registrations approx. Out of this new 15,094 students, those who will be getting admission in one lakh eight thousand is only 44. Out of the new registrations, about 12,000 students are failing. 

This was not intended to help someone in particular. It was a pro-student measure. Only 44 out of the new registrations are getting admissions,' says SG on reopening application window.

Bench resumes NEET UG hearing

'A significant inflation in NEET scores, particularly in the 600-720 range, has been observed. The bell curve analysis presented by IIT Madras fails to adequately represent this critical area. Moreover, there has been no attempt to compare the results with those from previous years, which is essential for identifying any anomalies or irregularities. This omission undermines the report's validity and raises questions about the transparency. It is relevant to mention here that it is a simple graphical statistical tool to represent data. Following principles of Statistics and Probability the highest point on top of the bell represents the most probable event, while all other possible events are symmetrically distributed around the mean creating a symmetrical downward slope on each side. The Bell Curve for NEET UG 2024 computed by IIT MADRAS on the data provided by NTA is incomplete, misleading and under reported," says a petition filed by students on July 17.

The Supreme Court has now taken a lunch break, and will re-convene at 2 pm.