Why No Re-Conduct of NEET-UG 2024? | LawChakra Live Interview with Senior Advocate Narendra Hooda Who Appeared for the Petitioners.
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The Supreme Court announced on Friday, August 2, that it cannot mandate the re-conduct of NEET-UG 2024 due to a lack of sufficient evidence indicating a systemic leak or malpractice that would undermine the examination’s integrity.
In addition, the Court expanded the scope of the Centre-appointed panel, headed by former ISRO chief K Radhakrishnan, to review the functioning of the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) (NEET-UG), and to recommend examination reforms.
The top court has set a deadline of September 30 for the committee to submit its report on various measures to address deficiencies in the examination system.
A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra provided detailed reasons for its July 23 order refusing to cancel the controversial NEET-UG 2024 examination. The bench stated,
“….sufficient material is not on record at present which indicates a systemic leak or systemic malpractice of other forms. The material on record does not, at present, substantiate the allegation that there has been a widespread malpractice which compromised the integrity of the exam. To the contrary, an assessment of the data indicates that there are no deviations which indicate that systemic cheating has taken place.”
Senior Advocate Narendra Hooda, speaking on the matter on Lawchakra’s Live Interview, highlighted–
“The bench highlighted multiple lapses on the part of the NTA, including a security breach at an examination center in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand, where the rear door of the strongroom was opened, allowing unauthorized access to the question papers, transport of question papers by e-rickshaws, and wrong distribution of question papers among candidates.”
Hooda, who represented the petitioner in NEET case, further elaborated,
“The investigation by Bihar police had found that the leak happened on May 4, prior to the deposit of question papers in the banks.”
“In this exam, there was a complete systemic failure. No address verification.. there was no CCTV camera monitoring at any of the locations.. there has been a live monitoring they say.. but I demolish it by saying that a wrong question paper was distributed in Sawai Madhopur and there was no surveillance.. it was on social media they got to know about the wrong question paper,”
– senior lawyer Narendra Hooda in interview session.
Hooda said that the manner of conducting the entire exam was so fragile that it did not inspire confidence, and at every stage, there was a possibility of a leak.
“They admit that there was a leak, they admitted that dissemination happened on WhatsApp,” he said.
“A totally Rotten system, completely flawed. When result declared on 4th june, 67 students scored 720/720”
-Snr Adv Narendra Hooda (Counsel for the Petitioner) on NEET Paper Leak.
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