Gujarat students petition Supreme Court to stop NEET-UG 2024 from being cancelled

As many as 56 students from Gujarat on Wednesday (July 3) filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking a number of directions, including action against students found to be involved in malpractices, and pleaded that the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test – Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2024 should not be cancelled.

According to the Supreme Court staff and registry, the joint plea had been filed and it would most likely be heard on July 8, Monday, as the Supreme Court had already listed and scheduled to hear about 60 petitions that day on the same issue.

The main petitioner, Siddhartha Komla Singla, who appeared for the NEET-UG 2024 examination held on May 5 this year, filed the plea along with other students from Gujarat.

The petitions sought to direct the respondents – the National Testing Agency (NTA) and other authorities – to identify and punish candidates who indulged in adopting unfair means during the examination.

They also demanded that equal measures be taken in identifying the centres where any compromise in the guidelines laid down for NEET-UG 2024 exams has been made.

“The Supreme Court may further direct the respondents not to conduct the NEET-UG 2024 again by cancelling it as it would not only be unreasonable and harsh on honest and hardworking students but would also result in violation of the Right to Education (RTE) and hence violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India, 1950,” the pleas said.

The petitioner students, aged between 17 and 19 years, have given 100 per cent of their time to fulfil their dream of becoming a doctor after hard and consistent work of over three to four years. They have cracked the NEET-UG 2024 exam. Hence, the exam should not be cancelled, he said.

They also told the Supreme Court in their petition that they were celebrating the result of their hard work by being declared successful and ranked among the toppers in the NEET-UG 2024 exams.

After this came the news of multiple petitions filed in the Supreme Court challenging irregularities in conduct of the exam by the NTA, award of grace marks for wastage of time, leak of documents and prayer for CBI inquiry, re-NEET (UG) to be conducted and so on.

The petitioners stated that if the re-test of NEET-UG 2024 is conducted, they fear that they will have to face many difficulties and the re-NEET may fail to pass the test of reasonableness and therefore, conducting a re-NEET would be unreasonable for the petitioners who have succeeded through their constant hard work and sincerity.

“Therefore, re-NEETing them on the ground of being unreasonable would be violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India, 1950 and hence in order to protect their outcome and fundamental right, the petitioners are compelled to file their grievances through this petition,” the petition said.