New Delhi – The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Director of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi to constitute a three-member committee of experts in physics to know the correct answer to a controversial question in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) 2024 held on May 5 for admission to undergraduate medical and other courses.
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Mishra directed the IIT director to immediately constitute a committee of experts. The court also passed an order to present the opinion of the experts on the alternative answer before the court by 12 noon on Tuesday, July 23.
The bench issued this order because some petitioners argued that according to the old NCERT syllabus, one option is correct, but in the new NCERT syllabus, the other option has been declared correct. The petitioners argue that the National Testing Agency has considered both the options correct.
The bench passed the order after hearing arguments from several advocates of different petitioners for hours in favour and against re-conducting of the NEET exam.
During the hearing, the bench passed this order after hearing the arguments of the concerned parties on the questions raised by some petitioners on the decision of the National Examination Agency (NTA) to declare two answers out of four options of question number 19 of the Physics subject section of Set-S3 of the controversial NEET UG exam held on May 5 as correct.
Justice Chandrachud, who was heading the bench, asked the Registrar General of the Supreme Court to immediately inform the Director of IIT Delhi about this order of the court, so that the order could be followed promptly.
The apex court will continue hearing the matter related to the future of lakhs of students on Tuesday also.
During the hearing, the petitioners, while seeking directions for re-examination, claimed that the NEET UG exam was conducted without following any due procedure. They alleged that there was a complete 'systemic failure' and the address verification of applicants was not done at any place. Surveillance through CCTV cameras was also not done at all places.
Senior advocate Narendra Hooda, appearing for some petitioners, argued before the court that the wrong question paper was distributed in Sawai Madhopur but there was no live monitoring. They came to know about the wrong question paper on social media.
He told the bench that following the apex court's direction, NTA has published the complete list without roll numbers but no all India rank has been given.
Mr Hooda also claimed that after recording the statement, the Bihar Police investigation found that the question paper was made public on May 4.
The bench said that the statements of the accused indicate that many students had gathered to memorize on the evening of May 04. This means that the NEET UG 2024 question paper was made public before May 04.
The apex court also said that the question paper being carried by e-rickshaw is an established fact, but the photograph distributed was of the 'OMR sheet' and not the question paper.
Mr Hooda, while insisting on a re-examination, claimed that the manner in which the entire exam was conducted did not inspire confidence. There was a possibility of the question paper being made public at every stage, he admitted that it had happened and was circulated on WhatsApp.
It is noteworthy that on July 18, the apex court had directed the NTA to publish the marks obtained by the students in the NEET UG examinations at the examination center and city level on its website by 12 noon on Saturday, July 20, for some transparency.
