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NEET-UG paper leak case: Supreme Court to hear petition for retest for top 3.5 lakh scorers
Allegations of copying emerge in Rewari, Haryana, while government sources say that top scorers are spread out across 509 cities and 4044 centres
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is questioning a first-year female MBBS student from the 2023 batch of RIMS in connection with the NEET-UG paper leak case. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
After the National Testing Agency (NTA) made public scores of over 23 lakh candidates who appeared for the NEET-UG medical entrance exam, petitioners in the paper leak case have filed an Intervention Application (IA) in the Supreme Court, requesting a retest for the nearly 3.5 lakh top scorers in the test. The court is slated to hear the matter on Monday.
The petitioners, in the IA said they too have scored fairly high marks on the test — from 650 to 680 out of the total 720 marks. The petitioners further said they are aware that conducting a retest is not an easy task, and has several ramifications and therefore a practical solution needs to be thought of. “Of the 24 lakh who appeared in the examination, 13 lakh have qualified. The total number of medical seats available is around 1,08,915. The retest, therefore, need only be conducted twice or thrice the number of seats available. That would reduce the cost in terms of time, money and manpower, to reasonable limits,” the application stated.
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“The NEET-UG 2024 Examination which is wholly vitiated can be treated as NEET 2024 Preliminary Examination. The further test to be conducted can be treated as the NEET-UG 2024 Final Examination,” it further stated.
The petitioners, many of whom are “students from humble backgrounds and cannot afford a private MBBS seat” costing anywhere between ₹50 lakh to ₹1 crore, allege that both the medical education and paper leak industries are worth crores of rupees. “There are only around 55,000 seats in government medical colleges, which alone students from humble backgrounds, like the petitioners, can aspire to,” the application states.
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Further, they pointed out that 75% of NTA’s work is outsourced. “Besides the permanent officials/staff, 426 are from outside, 45 on deputation, 147 on contract basis and another 325 entirely outsourced through private agencies. The current system is unthinkably faulty.”
The petitioners also alleged that that those involved with the paper leak industry are “well connected” and their links with officials within the NTA are yet to be exposed.
Allegations of copying in Rewari centre
After the NTA made NEET-UG data public and it was revealed that 22% of the 264 candidates who appeared from the Delhi Public School (DPS) centre in Rewari, Haryana, scored over 600 marks, Somlata (54), an aggrieved candidate’s mother, alleged that students had been copying during the exam.
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“My daughter Charu appeared for NEET-UG from Rewari. She told me that students were consulting with each other while attempting the paper and solving questions with each other’s help. At first, I took her complaint lightly, but after seeing DPS-Rewari on top of the high scores list, I find her allegation to be valid. The CCTV camera of DPS-Rewari should be investigated by the CBI to rule out any irregularities,” Ms. Somlata, who is a teacher, told The Hindu.
Government’s take
Official sources in the Ministry of Education said that while 23.33 lakh students appeared in the exam, 2,321 got 700 or more marks. “These students were spread across 1,404 centres in the entire country and abroad, and spread across 276 cities and 25 States/UTs. Such a large spread shows that many candidates who were not from traditional tuition hubs were also able to secure a place among the the toppers,” Ministry sources said.
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While the petitioners allege that certain centres in Sikar, Rajkot, and Latur registered abnormal results, the Ministry, while agreeing that many students from traditional tuition hubs like Sikar (149), Kota (74) and Kottayam (61) were able to score 700 or more marks, said many students from other cities too were also able to break into the bracket.
For example, 35 students appearing from Lucknow; 27 from Kolkata; 25 from Latur; 20 from Nagpur; 19 from Faridabad; 18 from Nanded; 17 from Indore; 16 each from Cuttack and Kanpur; 14 each from Kolhapur, Noida and Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar; 13 each from Agra and Aligarh; 10 each from Akola and Patiala; eight from Davangere; seven from Banaskantha, etc. were able to score 700 or more. “It appears that aligning the syllabus of NEET with that of higher secondary has started to bear fruits,” sources further added.
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