Amid a raging row over the irregularities in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate, 2024 (NEET-UG), the Supreme Court on Friday asked the National Testing Agency and the Centre to respond to pleas seeking a probe by a committee chaired by a retired Supreme Court or High Court judge or an investigation agency into allegations of question paper leak and discrepancies in the NEET-UG 2024 examination.
Petitioners appearing before a Vacation Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta urged the "imminent need for a CBI investigation".
The bench which was hearing a batch of pleas, including a PIL filed by Hiten Singh Kashyap, also sought responses from the CBI and the Bihar Government within two weeks.
It said the pleas will be taken up with other pending ones on July 8, when the top court will start functioning after the summer vacation.
During brief hearing, the bench got irked when a lawyer referred to the students committing suicides at Kota, a hub of coaching centres, in Rajasthan as an argument to buttress his case for a CBI probe. "Don't make unnecessary emotional arguments here," Justice Nath said.
Responding to the submission for ordering a CBI probe, the bench said the reply of the NTA was necessary before an order could be passed.
"It is the future of 24 lakh students," the lawyer said. "We understand. We are conscious of all that," the bench said.
"Issue notice," the bench said, adding it will be taken up for hearing on July 8 along with other related petitions on the NEET-UG row.
NTA counsel Vardhaman Kaushik, however, said the NTA wanted to withdraw three other petitions, which were seeking transfer of cases from high courts to the top court, as they pertained to grant of grace marks to 1,563 candidates on account of loss of time during the examination on May 5.
He said the NTA will be informing the high courts that the issue over grace marks has been settled and that the decision to cancel the compensatory marks given to 1,536 candidates has been taken. The bench permitted the NTA to withdraw the transfer petitions pertaining to row over grant of grace marks to 1,563 candidates.
On June 14, the Centre and the NTA told the Supreme Court they have cancelled the grace marks given to 1,563 candidates who took the examination for admission to MBBS and other such courses. They will have the option to either take a re-test or forgo the compensatory marks awarded to them for loss of time, the centre had said.
The examination was held on May 5 across 4,750 centres and around 24 lakh candidates took it. The results were expected to be declared on June 14 but were announced on June 4, apparently because the evaluation of the answer sheets got completed earlier. There have been allegations of question paper leaks in states like Bihar and other irregularities in the prestigious exam.
The allegations have led to protests in several cities and filing of cases in seven high courts as also the Supreme Court. Scores of students protested in Delhi on June 10 seeking a probe into alleged irregularities.
As many as 67 students scored a perfect 720, unprecedented in the NTA's history, with six from a centre in Haryana's Faridabad figuring in the list, raising suspicions about irregularities. It has been alleged that grace marks contributed to 67 students sharing the top rank. The NEET-UG examination is conducted by the NTA for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country.
