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The 2024 NEET-UG - for entrance to undergraduate medical courses - can only be conducted again if the "sanctity" of the test held on May 5 was "lost on a large scale" as a result of leaked questions the Supreme Court said Thursday morning as it heard over 40 petitions asking for a re-test.
The remark was an echo of observations made last week, when the court said the "sanctity" of the examination had been affected and it demanded answers from the authorities.
The court also heard petitions from the under-fire NTA - the National Testing Agency, the central body responsible for the conduct of competitive exams - seeking transfer of cases filed by various state police forces to the respective High Courts to avoid potential duplication and confusion.
The day's hearing began with Chief Justice DY Chandrachud remarking on the urgency of this situation as lakhs of students are waiting on the outcome of the court's decision. "We will give priority to the NEET matter because of social ramifications," the Chief Justice said.
The first significant moment was the Chief Justice's sharp response to a petitioner's request to void results of the exam for all students on grounds the leaked paper may have compromised the scores.
"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..." the court responded, "Second, tell us what should be the direction of the investigation in this matter," the Chief Justice-led three-member bench said firmly.
"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 also pointed out it may be unfeasible to identify and "segregate" the hundreds, or thousands, of students who may have conspired to access questions beforehand.
'1.08 Lakh vs 24 Lakh' Question
On the numbers of petitioners - seen as crucial to establish the strength of petitions seeking cancellation - the NTA responded, "There are 131 not within the 1.08 lakh (students selected for admission to private colleges) who want a re-test and there are 254 who are opposing the re-test."
The question of data and how to analyse this data was an early bone of contention, with senior advocate Narender Hooda, for the petitioners, complaining of a "handicap".
"I am starting with a handicap. I do not have the results... because of that I cannot have the data analytics," he told the court, as he also pointed out a possible conflict of interest. He said, "One of the Directors of IIT Madras is a member of the governing body of the NTA..."
Appearing for the agency, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta countered quickly. "This is factually wrong. Somebody else was..." he said, and explained, "Governing body has no role in conduct of exam."
Returning to the question of analytics, 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, in a written submission to the court last night, said data analysed by IIT Madras showed mark distribution followed a bell-shaped curve normal to any large-scale examination, and indicated no abnormality.
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..."
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.
However, in an additional affidavit filed last week, the government, referring to the analysis by IIT Madras insisted there is no indication of "mass malpractice" nor evidence that a localised set of candidates had benefitted from cheating and had scored abnormally high marks.
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