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The Supreme Court on Thursday heard a clutch of petitions seeking re-test or cancellation of the 2024 NEET-UG exam - for entrance to undergraduate medical courses - the results of which have been plagued by allegations of leaked question papers and incorrectly awarded 'grace marks'.
After a tense morning session, which included arguments over a report by IIT Madras that analysed the scores of all candidates to say there was no abnormality in mark distribution, the post-lunch spotlight was on security protocol for transportation of the question papers that were allegedly leaked.
Appearing for the petitioners, senior advocate Narender Hooda said, "... coming to the chain of custody (of the question papers), Their case is the papers were sent to centres on April 24 via a private courier."
"The papers reached SBI (State Bank of India) and Canara Bank (offices, in 571 cities) on May 3."
Questions over transportation were flagged after CBI suggested a leak - either while the papers were being taken to centres or after they arrived at one - a school in Jharkhand's Hazaribagh.
READ | NEET-UG Paper Leak Had Genesis In Jharkhand School: CBI
"One trunk (of question papers) was found travelling on an e-rickshaw on May 3 in Hazaribagh under the open sky... it was received by the Principal of the school (who has been arrested)," Mr Hooda said.
"The affidavit by the NTA (the National Testing Agency, the central body that conducts competitive exams) does not refer to this..." he continued.
The NTA, represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, refused any suggestion of a leak and pointed out the CBI had investigated the chain "from printer to centre". "How the sealing happened... how GPS tracking happened... There is a seven-layer security system," he told the court.
Re-Test Only If "Sanctity" Lost
Earlier the court stressed it would only order a re-test if the "sanctity" of the May 5 exam was "lost on a large scale" as a result of leaked questions. The remark was an echo of observations made last week, when the court said the "sanctity" of the exam had been affected and demanded answers. The court then, however, had advised against a re-test, saying certain circumstances would argue against it.
"You have to show us that the leak was systematic... that it affected the entire examination... so as to warrant cancellation of the entire exam..." a bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said this morning, "Because of 23 lakh students only one lakh will get admission... we cannot order re-test."
"Second, tell us what should be the direction of the investigation in this matter."
"If we accept your wider submission (that leaked question papers compromised the exam results) we would also like your assistance on the lines on which the investigation must happen." The court said it was unfeasible to identify and "segregate" students who may have conspired to access questions.
'1.08 Lakh vs 24 Lakh' Question
On the numbers of petitioners - to establish strength of pleas seeking cancellation - the NTA said, "131 not within 1.08 lakh (selected students) who want a re-test and there are 254 who are opposing."
Mr Hooda argued it would be difficult to establish variances given a data set as large as all students who took the exam, i.e., nearly 24 lakh.
The NTA told the court last night that data analysed by IIT Madras showed mark distribution followed a bell-shaped curve normal to any large-scale examination, and indicated no abnormality.
READ | Why So Many NEET-UG Toppers? Exam Body's Reply In Court
The report also acknowledged the "overall increase in marks obtained... specifically in the range of 550 to 720... across cities and centres" and attributed it to a "25 per cent reduction in syllabus".
Mr Hooda, however, said that report was based on the figure of nearly 24 lakh and that the analysis should have been carried out on the 1.08 lakh students who passed the examination.
"Data analytics was run for 23 lakh students... but at what stage, if 10,000 or 20,000 (cheated) can you detect abnormality? The correct procedure was to apply this to 1.08 lakh..."
"The (bell-shape) curve is no indication there is no abnormality because the data is too large... which cannot be caught. Granular variations can't be seen with this large data..." he insisted.
100 Toppers
Mr Hooda also demanded the NTA release data for the top 100 ranks and not just the top 17; the IIT Madras report showed a city-wise list, which showed the maximum (five) came from Bengaluru, with four from Lucknow and three each from Kota in Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu's Namakkal.
The Chief Justice subsequently read out the list of top 100 students, which showed there were nine toppers from Rajasthan alone and six from Bahadurgarh in Haryana.
Mr Hooda pointed out what he said was an anomaly, but the NTA said the list's purpose "is to show toppers are spread over... that there is no abnormal spike in any particular centre."
NEET-UG Controversy
Controversy over the 2024 NEET-UG exam - attended by nearly 24 lakh aspiring medical professionals - broke last month after allegations the question paper had been leaked - subsequent inquiries indicated the leak was orchestrated by a national 'solver gang' network - on social media.
The first red flags were the unusually high number of perfect scores; a record 67 students, including six from one coaching centre, scored a maximum 720. Questions were also asked over the award of 'grace marks' - not exam protocol, according to the authorities - to 1,563 students.
In an affidavit filed last week, the government, referring to the analysis by IIT Madras insisted there is no indication of "mass malpractice" nor evidence that some candidates had benefitted from cheating.
READ | CBI Arrests 'Rocky', Alleged Mastermind In NEET-UG Paper Leak Case
The CBI has been tasked with investigating this case and has filed six cases and arrested nine people so far. Last week Rakesh Ranjan, alias Rocky, who is seen as one of the ringleaders, was arrested.
The incident also triggered a political row, with the Congress-led opposition attacking the ruling BJP in Parliament, forcing ruckus and chaos as MPs debated the Motion of Thanks to President Droupadi Murmu's joint address.
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