Centre, NTA reject pleas to scrap NEET-UG, warn of potential risks to honest candidates in case of retest

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 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.

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.

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.

In its affidavit, the ministry said that invalidating the exam would “seriously jeopardise” the efforts of lakhs of honest candidates who appeared for the exam. In the absence of evidence of a large-scale breach of confidentiality of the exam, it argued that it would not be rational to take this step. This is the first time that the Centre has spoken out on holding a retest of the NEET-UG for the 240,000 registered candidates.

The ministry only acknowledged that there were “instances of irregularities, cheating, impersonation, malpractices” in the conduct of the NEET-UG. There is no mention of any leakage of documents. It goes on to say that “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.”

The statement comes even as the Bihar government, in its communication to the education ministry, said its investigation “clearly suggests leakage of documents”. The ministry said in the statement that it has already asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to conduct a thorough probe into the entire gamut of alleged irregularities.

The National Eligibility and Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG), conducted on May 5 by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses, has sparked a huge uproar across the country due to alleged irregularities like leaked question papers and led to mass protests, political brawls and filing of multiple pleas in courts.

Responding to calls for scrapping the controversial exam, a retest and a court-monitored probe, the Union Education Ministry said there was no evidence of large-scale breach of confidentiality in the exam that was taken by over 23 lakh candidates at 4,750 centres in 571 cities.

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 any unfair means should also not be compromised. “Scrapping the examination in its entirety would seriously endanger the lakhs of honest candidates who attempted the exam in 2024,” the affidavit said. It said the Centre was committed to protecting the interests of the lakhs of students who attempted the exam fairly and after years of hard work, without trying to gain any illegal advantage.

“Therefore, while genuine concerns based on proven facts must be addressed, other claims 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,” he said.

The affidavit said there were alleged cases of irregularities, cheating, impersonation and malpractices during the examination and the lead investigation agency CBI has been directed to conduct a thorough probe into the entire gamut of alleged irregularities. “The CBI has taken over the cases registered in different states after being transferred to it by the concerned state governments and is conducting the investigation,” the affidavit said.

The Ministry of Education has set up a high-level expert committee to propose effective measures to ensure transparency, smooth conduct and fairness of the National Testing Agency examinations. The committee 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, the Parliament enacted the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 on February 12, 2024. The Act came into force from June 21, 2024 and provides for stringent penalties for offences related to unfair means in public examinations. The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Rules, 2024 under the Act were also notified on June 23,” he said.

The affidavit said the Centre is not treating the dispute in an adversarial manner and fully understands the concerns of the candidates who appeared for the NEET-UG 2024 examination. “It is further submitted that the Union of India, in a matter like this, has adopted a solution-oriented approach,” it said, adding that the government is committed to conducting all competitive examinations in a fair and transparent manner.

“The Union of India duly appreciates that confidentiality of the examination subjects is the top priority in any examination and if due to any criminality at the behest of certain criminal elements, confidentiality has been breached, the Union of India submits that the said person should be dealt with severely and with the full force of law to ensure that he is punished,” the affidavit said.

In a separate statement, the NTA reiterated the Centre’s position and said, “Cancellation of the entire examination on the basis of the above factor would be extremely counterproductive and significantly detrimental to public interest, particularly the career prospects of qualified candidates.”

The agency said the entire NEET-UG 2024 examination was conducted fairly and with due confidentiality without any illegal practices and the allegation of “massive malpractice” during 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 action, 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 need to be addressed, other claims based merely on conjectures and assumptions, without any factual basis, need to be rejected so as not to cause unnecessary suffering and distress to honest candidates 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 in the examination process mechanism, improvement of data security protocols and structure and 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,

The Parliament enacted the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 on February 12, 2024,” he said. The affidavit said the Act came into force on June 21, 2024 and provides for strict penalties for offences related to the use of unfair means in 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.