Supreme Court Demands Thorough Probe into Even 0.001% Negligence in NEET-UG 2024 Exam

The Supreme Court on Tuesday came down heavily on the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the Centre while hearing pleas related to alleged paper leaks and malpractices in the NEET-UG 2024 examination.

The top court bench, comprising Justices Vikram Nath and SVN Bhatti , said that even a 0.001% negligence on the part of anyone should be thoroughly dealt with.

"If there is 0.001% negligence on the part of anyone it should be thoroughly dealt with," the Supreme Court said, adding that the court cannot forget the efforts of the children who have prepared for the exams.

The apex court also told the Centre and the NTA to not take petitions filed against the NEET-UG as adversarial litigation. It directed both the entities to admit and rectify any mistakes in conducting the test.

"As an agency which is conducting the examination, you must act fair. If there is a mistake, say yes, this is a mistake, and this is the action we are going to take. At least that inspires confidence in your performance," the top court told the NTA.

The Supreme Court is hearing a batch of petitions, raising allegations including paper leaks, awarding grace marks, and a significant increase in high scorers in the NEET-UG 2024 exam.

On June 14, the top court had issued notices to the Centre and the NTA on a plea requesting a CBI investigation into allegations of question paper leak. The notice came after the Centre informed the Supreme Court about its decision to cancel the scorecards of 1,563 NEET-UG 2024 candidates, who were awarded grace marks.

The Centre also told the Supreme Court that the affected students will soon be notified of their revised scores, which will exclude the grace marks that were previously awarded. The matter will be heard next on July 8.