PM supervising NEET: Govt to SC
The SC observed that institutional credibility matters more than individual assurances
Observing displeasure on the NEET administration, the Supreme Court on Friday said that “we should not disappoint our youngsters” and stressed for the accountability. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court that the Government is seriously concerned about the youth.
“Some new mechanisms are also put in place for the June 21 examination. It may not be appropriate to divulge what is there, otherwise the very purpose will be frustrated. It is being monitored at the highest possible executive level,” the SG said. “The prime minister personally is supervising this so that there is no lacunae,” he added.
The top court was hearing pleas, including the one seeking a direction to replace or restructure the National Testing Agency (NTA), which is responsible for conducting the NEET-UG, with a robust and autonomous body to conduct the medical entrance examination.
“The real problem won’t stop till actual accountability arises,” the bench observed. The NTA told the SC that it is all set to conduct NEET-UG in the Computer-Based Test (CBT) mode from next year instead of the pen and paper mode after consulting the Union Government.
“Accountability will be effective only when you know on whose shoulders, which individual shoulders, the responsibility lies,” the SC said.
The bench cited the example of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and said there was never a situation like paper leak in the examinations conducted by the commission and the NTA needs to learn from other institutions.
“It is actually very traumatic if something like this happens, not just for the students, but also their families and everybody,” the bench said, adding, “They invest so much of emotion”. The bench also highlighted the problem that most of the institutions were ad-hoc.
“It is not the individual who has the capability, it is the institution which has the capability. That is what you need to prepare,” the bench said.
The bench asked the Union Government to file an affidavit indicating how and in which manner the process of conduct and conclusion of the examination, year after year, will be done.
“The endeavour is to ensure that NTA would have the wherewithal, physical as well as intellectual, to ensure that no incidents such as the 2024 or 2026 examinations occur,” the bench said.
It said the affidavit be filed by the Union Government within six weeks and posted the matter for hearing in the second week of July.
On May 12, the NTA cancelled the NEET-UG, held on May 3, amid allegations of paper leak. A re-examination has been scheduled for June 21. The paper leak allegations are under investigation by the CBI.
Earlier the SC had observed that it is sad that the NTA has not learnt lessons from the earlier NEET paper leak.
