Centre, NTA oppose demands for NEET cancellation

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 cancelling it 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-cum-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 in the May 5 test.

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.

“Scrapping the exam in its entirety would seriously endanger the lakhs of honest candidates who attempted the exam in 2024,” the ministry said. The Centre said that in any exam, 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.

In a separate statement, the NTA reiterated the Centre’s stand and said, “Cancellation of the examination in its entirety on the basis of the above-mentioned 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.”

The ministry and the NTA said there was no evidence of a large-scale breach of confidentiality in the exam that involved more than 230,000 candidates 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.