Cancellation of exam, repeat test could put honest candidates at risk, Centre, NTA tell Supreme Court

New Delhi: Amid growing clamour for cancellation of the controversial NEET-UG, 2024 exam due to alleged malpractices, the Centre and the National Testing Agency on Friday told the Supreme Court that its scrapping would be counterproductive and “seriously jeopardise” lakhs of honest candidates in the absence of evidence of large-scale breach of confidentiality.

The National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts the National Eligibility and Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses, and the Union Education Ministry have been at the centre of media debates and protests by students and political parties over alleged large-scale malpractices ranging from question paper leaks to impersonation during the test conducted on May 5.

The Union Education Ministry and the NTA have filed separate affidavits opposing the applications which have sought cancellation of the controversy-plagued exam, a retest and a court-monitored inquiry into the entire gamut of issues involved.

In their replies, they said that the CBI, the country’s top investigating agency, has taken over the cases registered in different states.

“It is also submitted that at the same time, 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,” the Centre said in its preliminary affidavit filed through a director of the education department.

“Canceling the exam in its entirety would seriously endanger the hundreds of thousands of honest candidates who attempted the exam in 2024,” the ministry said.

The Centre said that in any examination there are competing rights and the interests of a large number of students who take it without adopting unfair means should also not be compromised.

The NTA, in its separate affidavit, reiterated the Centre’s stand and said: Cancellation of the entire examination on the basis of the above factor would be extremely counterproductive and significantly detrimental to the larger public interest, particularly the career prospects of qualified candidates.

The agency said that the entire NEET-UG 2024 examination was conducted fairly and with due confidentiality without any illegal practices and that the allegation of “massive malpractice” in the examination is totally baseless, misleading and devoid of any merit.

It is submitted that if the entire examination process is cancelled without there being any tangible factors justifying such actions, it would be extremely detrimental to the larger public interest involving the academic career of lakhs of students who attempted the examination fairly without any wrongdoing or even an allegation of wrongdoing, the NTA said.

The ministry and the NTA said there was no evidence of large-scale breach of confidentiality in the exam in which over 23 lakh candidates participated at 4,750 centres in 571 cities.

The ministry said the Centre was committed to protecting the interests of hundreds of thousands of students who took the exams fairly and after years of hard work, without trying to gain any illegal advantage.

“Therefore, while genuine concerns based on proven facts must be taken into account, other requests merely based on conjecture and supposition, without any factual basis, must be rejected so as not to cause unnecessary suffering and distress to honest applicants and their families,” the ministry said.

The government said it has constituted a high-level expert committee to suggest effective measures for conducting transparent, smooth and fair examinations by the NTA.

The affidavit states that the panel will make recommendations on reforms to the examination process mechanism, improvement of data security protocols and structure and the functioning of the National Testing Agency.

“It is respectfully submitted that the government is committed to ensuring the sanctity of examinations and protecting the interests of students. To ensure transparency, fairness and credibility of public examinations, Parliament enacted the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 on February 12, 2024,” he said.

The affidavit states that the law came into force on June 21, 2024, and provides for severe penalties for offenses related to the use of unfair means during public examinations.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a series of petitions on July 8, including those alleging irregularities in the May 5 exam and seeking a ruling that it be re-run.