In a huge relief to the successful NEET-UG 2024 candidates looking forward to enter medical colleges to fill 1,08,000 seats in government and private m medical colleges across the country, the Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to order retest of the NEET-UG 2024 holding that there was no material before the court to warrant such a course which is fraught with serious consequences, with cascading effects including the availability of the medical doctors in the future.

Refusing the plea seeking the cancellation of the NEET-UG 2024 and its reconduct, Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud heading a bench also comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said, “There is absence of material on record to lead to conclusion that the results of the exam is vitiated or that there is a systematic breach of the sanctity of the exam.”

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Acknowledging that the leak of the NEET-UG 2024 paper at Hazaribagh in Jharkhand and at Patna in Bihar is “not in dispute”, the court said that the data on record is not indicative of a systemic leak of the NEET-UG 2024 question paper which would indicate a disruption of the sanctity of the exam.

Reassuringly, the court said that to “obviate any controversy”, they had themselves scrutinised the data furnished to the count by the National Testing Agency (NRA).

Stating that it realises that directing a fresh NEET-UG for the present year would be replete with serious consequences for nearly 24 lakh students who appeared in this exam, and cause disruption of admission schedule, the court said that it would have a cascading effect on the course of medical education, impact on availability of qualified medical professionals in the future and seriously disadvantageous for the marginalised group for whom reservation was made in allocation of seats.

Pronouncing the order on the conclusion of the hearing that was spread over four days, , CJI Chandrachud said, “Thus we are of the view that ordering cancellation of the entire exam is neither justified on application of settled principles propounded by this court on the basis of material on record” and based on earlier judgments on such issues.

The court also said that the report submitted by the CBI before it shows that the probe is on and the central agency indicates that material shows 155 students drawn from the exam centres at Hazaribagh and Patna appeared to be the beneficiaries of the fraud. The probe by the CBI however, has not attained finality, it noted.

As CJI Chandrachud started dictating the order, he said that there is an urgent need to provide “certainty and finality” to the dispute which has occurred and affects the careers of over 2 million students.

The court also said that if there are beneficiaries of the fraud and their names have not surfaced at this stage of investigation and are revealed at a later stage, they will not escape the consequences of the wrong doings irrespective of the stage of their academic pursuit.

The order of the top court came on a batch of pleas seeking direction to recall NEET-UG 2024 results and to conduct the examination afresh, alleging paper leakage and malpractices in the test held.

The petitioner candidates who had appeared for NEET-UG 2024 had approached the top court and raised the issue of leakage of question paper, awarding compensatory marks and anomaly in question papers coupled with other irregularities in the conduct of the exam.

NEET-UG examination, conducted by NTA, is a first step for admissions into MBBS, BDS and AYUSH and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country.

The NEET-UG, 2024 was held at 4,750 centres across 571 cities within the country and abroad.