Even 0.001% negligence must be dealt with: Supreme Court on NEET exam row

The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice and sought response from the Centre and the National Testing Agency (NTA) on pleas pertaining to the alleged paper leaks and malpractices in the NEET-UG 2024 exam.

During the hearing, the bench said, “Even if there is 0.001% negligence on the part of anyone, it should be thoroughly dealt with.” “Imagine a person who has played fraud on the system becomes a doctor, he is more deleterious to society,” the bench, comprising Justice Vikram Nath and SVN Bhatti, further stated.

The Supreme Court pointed out that aspirants have prepared for the entrance examination, and “we cannot forget their labour”.

The bench told the Centre and the NTA not to consider the petitions filed against the NEET-UG as “adversarial litigation” and instead rectify the mistakes.

“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 bench said to the NTA.

The Supreme Court further said that it expects “timely action” from the testing organisation.

The next hearing in the matter has been listed on July 8.

Last week, the Supreme Court rebuked one of the counsels for petitioners who said that students at coaching centres in Kota, Rajasthan, were dying by suicide due to the NEET-UG 2024 exam row. The court dismissed the statements and directed that the petitioners seeking a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in the exam should not make such emotional arguments.

The Supreme Court had also reiterated that it will not stay the NEET counselling.