BREAKING | Centre opposes cancellation of NEET-UG 2024, tells Supreme Court that scrapping entire exam will affect lakhs

The Union government has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court opposing the cancellation of the NEET-UG 2024 exam, saying it is not rational to scrap the entire exam in the absence of any evidence of large-scale breach of confidentiality.

“Canceling the exam in its entirety would seriously endanger the hundreds of thousands of honest candidates who attempted the exam in 2024,” This was stated by the Union Education Ministry in its affidavit ahead of the hearing in the Supreme Court scheduled for July 8. Acknowledging that genuine concerns based on proven facts need to be addressed, the ministry said the demands made in the petitions seeking cancellation of the examination and retest based on “suppositions” and “conjectures” should be dismissed.

Stating that it is committed to ensuring that all competitions are conducted in a fair and transparent manner, the Ministry assured the court that stern action will be taken against criminals if it is found that the confidentiality of documents has been compromised.

“…in the absence of any evidence of large scale breach of confidentiality in a pan-India examination, it would not be rational to cancel the examination in its entirety and the results already declared. It is submitted that in any examination, competing rights have been created, whereby the interests of a large number of students who have appeared in the examination without adopting any allegedly unfair means should not also be jeopardized. Scrapping the examination in its entirety would seriously jeopardize the lakhs of honest candidates who attempted the subject of the examination in 2024” Centre informs Supreme Court

The Union Ministry also said that regarding the alleged cases of impersonation, cheating and malpractices in the examination, the CBI has been directed to conduct a thorough investigation. It also informed the Court that a high-level committee has been constituted to suggest measures for effective, smooth and transparent conduct of the examinations by the National Testing Agency. The committee has started its deliberations and invited suggestions from the public on the reform measures.

The ministry also told the court that the law aimed at combating cheating and leakage of papers in public examinations, the Prevention of Unfair Means of Public Examinations Act, 2024, came into force from June 21.

The Ministry clarified that this was a preliminary statement that did not address in detail all of the applicants’ claims. It reserved the right to file a detailed statement at a later date.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud will hear a batch of petitions seeking cancellation of NEET-UG 2024 on July 8.