The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the re-test proposed by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for 1,563 candidates who had appeared in the NEET-UG 2024 exam or postpone the counselling for medical college admissions slated to start on July 6. A vacation bench of Justices Vikram Nath and S V Bhatti, which has fixed various NEET-related petitions for hearing on July 8 when the Supreme Court would reconvene after its summer recess, rejected the prayer and said that if they win ultimately, there is a possibility that even the whole exam can be set aside and should therefore await the final outcome. “Nothing will happen now. Everything can be set aside. When there is a chance of setting aside of the May 5 main examination, where is this question of (re-test for) 1,563 candidates?” said Justice Nath. The counsel appearing for the petitioner sought a stay on the re-test saying that the NTA had withheld material information from the court – that out of the 1,563 candidates, 753 had already failed. “They are thereby getting a second shot at the examinations,” he said. This, he added, was unjust and unreasonable given that there are qualified candidates who would like to reappear. He also contended that the candidates reappearing will undergo the stress of taking the examination. The bench questioned the submission with Justice Nath asking, “You worried about them or are you worried about the other candidates or not being allowed to give the examination?” “Your argument is that some candidates who have failed are being allowed to take the retest. And now you are saying that those who are going to appear in the second examination are under stress. Completely contradictory arguments you are making,” added Justice Nath. Yet another petition sought a pause on the counselling for two days. Rejecting the request, Justice Bhatti said, “Counselling is not open and shut. It is a process. That process commences on July 6.” Upon being informed that the first schedule will last for about a week, Justice Bhatti added, “What is the duration of the first schedule? Afterwards, within that week, applicants have any number of options to amend, modify, dabble, whatever they want to do, they do it. After they freeze, then only it gets into the domain of the convenor.” Justice Bhatti said the candidates “will come to know what are all the colleges open. It’s not that everything is accepted. So we are allowing time not to be lost either by this side or that side”. Considering another plea by a candidate who said he did not get adequate time to take the exam due to his rare medical condition which makes it impossible for him to hold the pens for more than 10 minutes in a stretch, the Supreme Court asked the NTA to decide on his representation to allow him a re-test and to inform him of the decision by 4 pm Friday.
