Today, the Supreme Court resumed its hearing on the NEET 2024 case, where allegations of a paper leak have been hotly contested. Representing the National Testing Agency (NTA), Solicitor General Tushar Mehta addressed the court, insisting that the alleged leak did not have a nationwide impact. He claimed that the NEET results remained consistent and no significant anomalies were detected.
Solicitor General Mehta presented various data points to the three-judge bench, led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, along with Justices Pardiwala and Manoj Misra. He acknowledged minor increases in success rates in specific coaching hubs but emphasized that these were within acceptable limits.
However, Mehta did highlight notable spikes in results from centers in Patna and Hazaribagh, which were reported to be compromised. The NTA supported its stance with a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) report, indicating that the paper leak was localized and contained.
Mehta detailed that only 4.61% of candidates qualified for counseling this year. He noted a case of a student relocating to Belgavi due to concerns about mass copying, arguing that if such issues were widespread, success rates would not have dropped as observed. The NTA maintained that the overall results were consistent and reliable, except for the anomalies in Patna and Hazaribagh.
The Solicitor General revealed that 155 students benefitted from the leaked paper, with 125 from Hazaribagh and 30 from Patna. CCTV evidence was presented to substantiate these findings. The CBI report confirmed that the leak and the subsequent problem-solving process occurred primarily in Hazaribagh, with the information later relayed to Patna.
Mehta explained that each question paper had a unique serial number, which helped trace the tampering to a specific school. The NTA discovered that the seal on the question paper for a girl at Oasis School was broken, leading to the identification of the tampering. The paper was photographed, solved, and then handed over to the students by solvers, who were not allowed to bring mobile phones into the examination center.
The CBI report also clarified that the paper was stolen and solved on May 5, not on May 4 as initially speculated. The Supreme Court is expected to deliver its verdict on the NEET UG 2024 matter later today, July 23, 2024. This decision will be crucial for the future of the affected students and the credibility of the examination process.
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