NEET-UG row: SC asks IIT-D to set up expert team, seeks report on right answer to Physics question

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Director, IIT-Delhi to set up a team of three experts that would go into a particular question of Physics asked in the NEET-UG 2024 examination and submit a report on the correct answer by Tuesday noon.

The top court's order to IIT Delhi to set up a team of three domain experts to examine the issue of the correct answer to a question came at the fag end of the day-long hearing on a batch of petitions including those which are seeking a re-test of the controversy-ridden NEET-UG on grounds of question paper-leak and other malpractices.

A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud asked the petitioners seeking re-test to show with the help of data released by the National Testing Agency (NTA), which holds the examination, that there was a "systemic failure" in its conduct, and the paper leak was "widespread" and not restricted to Patna and Hazaribagh only.

"How do you establish that the paper leak was all over India?" the CJI asked.

During the hearing, the bench, also comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, took note of the submissions of some aspirants that a question of Physics had two correct answers and a set of examinees, who gave one particular answer out of the two correct ones, were awarded four marks.

It also considered submissions that there were three sets of aspirants, and one set got minus five for the correct answer, the second secured four marks for another correct answer, and the third group comprised those who skipped it for either want of knowledge or due to the fear of getting negative marks.

This would have a significant impact on the merit list of successful candidates, the bench was told.

The bench reproduced the controversial question in its order and said, "As indicated..., four options were indicated in the question as framed, of which, students had to select one option as their answer."

"In order to resolve the issue as regards the correct answer to the ...question, we are of the considered view that an expert opinion should be sought from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

"We request the Director at IIT Delhi to constitute a team of three experts of the subject concerned. The expert team constituted by the Director is requested to formulate its opinion on the correct option for the above question and to remit its opinion to the Secretary General of this Court, preferably by 12 noon on 23 July 2024," it ordered.

It asked the SC's Secretary General to communicate the order to the IIT Director for "expeditious steps".

The court made it clear that the order seeking the opinion of experts on a question would not mean that the pleas for cancellation of the examination have failed.

It will resume hearing as many as 40 petitions on Tuesday, when it will hear submissions of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and others on behalf of the Centre and the National Testing Agency.

Earlier in the day, the bench sought data from senior advocate Narender Hooda, appearing for students, to show that there was a "systemic failure" in conducting the test.

Observing that there was no material on record so far to show that the leak was widespread, the bench said there have been instances of some wrongdoing in Patna and Hazaribagh but they were not sufficient to indicate a systemic failure.

Hooda said the NTA and others admitted to the paper leak and its dissemination through social media.

At the outset, the bench asked as to what emerged from the city and centre-wise data of results put out by the NTA.

It also perused the statements of the accused recorded by Patna police and said the question papers were leaked either on the night of May 4 or a day after when the test took place.

Hooda alleged the probe was botched up because of the stand taken by the Centre.

"Don't take the name of the Government of India...I am answerable to students, to the court...Please don't make any such statements," Mehta responded.

The law officer said the NTA has conducted an exercise about the success rate of particular centres, cities and states, allegedly affected by the question paper leak, and there was "no abnormality".

"We have to see if the leak is localised and see if the paper was leaked at 9 am and solved by 10:30 am (on exam day). If we do not believe this, then you have to show us that the leak was beyond Hazaribagh and Patna," the bench told the counsel for the examinees.

The bench drew the attention of lawyers to the award of grace marks and time to students who appeared at three centres at Jhajjar in Haryana.

Hooda referred to a school in Jhajjar and said the principal went to State Bank of India (SBI) and Canara Bank branches and collected two sets of question papers. This was done despite the fact that only question papers in SBI's safe custody were to be distributed for the test, he said.

Question papers from Canara Bank were distributed, and when it became public that there were six students who got 720/720 at a centre in Jhajjar, the NTA said grace marks were given to them to compensate for the loss of time, he said.

"But the principal says there was no delay. And the Canara Bank question papers were distributed instead of SBI's," he added.

The bench asked the NTA to tell in how many centres the question papers collected from Canara Bank were distributed.

"How did Canara Bank give the papers with the letter of authorisation and who issued this letter of authorisation?" the bench asked.

The Director General of the NTA gives the authorisation letter to the city examination superintendent, the law officer said.

"Giving some examples here and there will not establish that this leak was all over India," Mehta contended.

Hooda alleged there was a "complete systemic failure" and listed out some more instances. He said there was "no address verification" and "no CCTV camera monitoring" at examination centres.

Hooda claimed a student from Gujarat, who failed the class 12th board examination, scored big in the NEET after appearing at a Centre in Karnataka.

"If this court is not considering re-NEET, at least qualified people should be asked to retake the exam, which will be about 13 lakh people," Hooda said.

Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde said, admittedly, there has been a leak from Hazaribagh and it was caught in Patna.

"We do not know today where all it leaked. Investigation reports say some of the messages went to about 100 people," he said.

More than 23.33 lakh students had taken the test on May 5 at 4,750 centres in 571 cities, including 14 overseas.

The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) is conducted by the NTA for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country.