The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the National Testing Agency (NTA) to publish the city and centre-wise results of this year’s NEET-UG exam on their website, masking the identity of the candidates, by 12 noon of July 20 (Saturday). The top court will resume hearing the arguments on July 22 on a batch of pleas seeking cancellation, re-test and a court-monitored probe into the allegations of large-scale malpractices in the prestigious test held on May 5.

“We direct the NTA to publish the marks obtained by students at the UG-2024 NEET examination, while, at the same time, without disclosing the identity of the students. The result should be declared city and centre wise by 12 noon on July 20, 2024 and shall be uploaded on the website of the NTA,” the bench, also comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said in its order. “We want the identity of students be masked. You can have dummy roll numbers. But let us see it centre-wise what is the marks pattern,” the bench said.

The call for city-and centre-wise results underlines the focus this hearing has taken a deep-dive into data about the precise number of students who sat for the exam and passed, as well as the number who have asked for a re-test or for results to be scrapped, and those opposing any intervention.

The bench noted the counsel for the petitioners have submitted that it would be appropriate if the result of NEET-UG 2024 examination was published on the NTA website so as to bring about transparency with regard to centre-wise marks obtained by candidates.

It also said material collected by the Bihar Police and the report of its Economic Offences Wing (EOW), before the investigation was taken over by the CBI, shall be filed in the court by 5 pm on July 20.  At the outset, the bench said it has prioritised the hearing on the pleas over other cases as these have “social ramifications” and lakhs of students are waiting for the outcome.

During the hearing, the CJI addressed the admitted leaks at Patna and Hazaribagh and stressed the need to determine if the breach was widespread. He also acknowledged that students are at a disadvantage by not knowing their results. The CJI suggested masking student identities while displaying center-wise mark patterns to ensure transparency and maintain integrity in the examination process.

“Students are at a handicap because they do not know the results. We want the students’ identity to be masked.... but let us see, centre-wise, what was the mark pattern...” the court explained.

The bench  commenced the crucial hearing on a batch of petitions linked to the NEET-UG 2024. It rejected the submission of the petitioners that they were handicapped as the CBI’s status report filed in the court was not made available to them.  “This is not a sealed cover procedure and we are all for transparency. What the CBI has told us, if it is revealed, probably the investigation may get scuttled. The investigation is going on as of today. The people will become wise,” the CJI said.

Hearing a clutch of petitions on the NEET-UG case the Supreme Court on Thursday observed that any order regarding conducting the medical exam again must have a “concrete footing” that the sanctity of the entire exam had been affected.

During the day-long hearing, the bench asked the counsel for the aspirants to establish their claim about extensive irregularities in holding the examination, including leak of question paper, warranting cancellation and a re-test.

The court asked the petitioners to prove that the paper leak in the NEET-UG exam was systematic and affected the entire examination process, warranting the cancellation of the medical entrance exam.

“We will open the case today. Lakhs of young students are waiting for this, let us hear and decide,” the court said as the hearing began. “Re-examination has to be on concrete footing that the sanctity of the entire test was affected,” the CJI said. The bench said the CBI is probing the paper leak.

The court said it prima facie appeared that the question paper leak was limited to Patna and Hazaribagh, and nothing of this sort can be said to have happened in Godhra in Gujarat.

The court raised doubts over the stand of the Union and the NTA that the paper leak happened only about 45 minutes before the start of the exam in certain centres. The Court orally remarked that the hypotheses that the question papers were leaked, solved and given to students to memorize all within 45 minutes on the morning of the exam date, appeared to be “too far-fetched.”

The CJI wondered if all the 180 questions could have been solved within 45 minutes, given that the examination started at 10.15 AM. SG replied that there were seven persons in the gang who divided the questions among themselves. “The whole hypothesis that the entire paper was solved in 45 minutes and given to students is too far-fetched,” CJI remarked.

Appearing for the Centre, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that while the results can be published, doing so centre-wise is riddled with severe problems. “There are coaching centres, there are several problems,” Mehta told the bench also comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.

In Patna and Hazaribagh, the question papers allegedly got leaked, while in Godhra there were claims that a person involved in holding the test took money for filling up the OMR sheets of certain candidates.

Questioning the claims about leak of question paper on social media platform ‘Telegram’, the bench said, “You have to bear in mind that the idea of somebody doing this was not to make a national charade. People did it for money. So, it was not to bring disrepute to the exam and somebody was doing it to make money which is evident. Mass leakage requires contacts also at that level so that you connect to all such key contacts in different cities.”

The bench asked the petitioners to show that the paper leak was “systemic” and affected the entire examination, warranting cancellation.

During the hearing, Senior Advocate Narendra Hooda pointed out that the number of candidates in the 550-720 range of marks has increased fivefold. In response, the CJI questioned if this could indicate a paper leak, to which Hooda responded that it is a red flag and asked for further investigation.

On the issue of the ongoing probe, the bench said, “The CBI probe is on. If what the CBI has told us is revealed, it will affect the investigation and people will become wise.”