SC issues notices on NTA’s pleas seeking transfer of cases on NEET-UG row to it

 NTA had submitted that several pleas seeking cancellation of NEET-UG 2024 over allegations of question paper leak and other malpractices are pending in several high courts

PTI, 15 July 2024 : The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to private parties on a batch of pleas filed by the National Testing Agency (NTA) seeking transfer of cases pending against it in various high courts on the NEET-UG row to the top court to avoid multiplicity of litigations.

Earlier, a vacation bench had on June 14 issued notices to the parties on similar pleas by the NTA.

The NTA had submitted that several pleas seeking cancellation of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Under Graduate (NEET-UG), 2024 over allegations of question paper leak and other malpractices are pending in several high courts.

Advocate Vardhaman Kaushik, appearing for the NTA, urged a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala on Monday that the fresh batch of pleas be also transferred to the apex court as they pertained to the same issue.

"Issue notice and tag," the bench said, adding that these pleas will also be taken up together with the pending petitions on the NEET-UG row on July 18.

The NTA also urged the bench to stay the pending proceedings in various high courts.

The CJI said once the Supreme Court has issued notices on transfer petitions, the high courts, procedurally, do not proceed with the hearing. The bench asked the NTA counsel to bring this to the notice of the high courts concerned.

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The top court was hearing as many as five petitions seeking transfer of cases from various high courts to it.

Earlier, the bench had on July 11 adjourned till July 18 the hearing on a clutch of other petitions seeking cancellation, re-test and probe into alleged malpractices in the conduct of NEET-UG, 2024 as the responses of the Centre and the NTA were not received by some parties.

The bench had also said it has received a status report from the CBI on the progress made in the probe into alleged irregularities in the conduct of the exam.

In an additional affidavit filed in the apex court on July 10, the Centre had said data analytics of the results of NEET-UG 2024 was conducted by IIT Madras which found there was neither any indication of "mass malpractice" nor a localised set of candidates benefiting from it and scoring abnormally high marks.

The government's assertion assumed significance in view of the observations made by the top court on July 8 that it may order a re-test if there were large-scale malpractices in holding the exam on May 5.

The Centre's affidavit had said experts from IIT Madras have found that the marks distribution follows the bell-shaped curve that is witnessed in any large-scale examination indicating no abnormality. A bell curve describes the shape of data conforming to a normal distribution.

The NTA had also filed a separate additional affidavit on the similar lines and said it has carried out an analysis of distribution of marks at the national, state and city level.

While hearing the pleas on July 8, the top court had observed that the sanctity of the examination has been "breached".

Saying that a re-test may be ordered if the entire process was affected, the bench had sought details from the NTA and the CBI, including the timing and manner of the alleged paper leak, besides the number of wrongdoers to understand the extent of irregularities claimed by the petitioners.

Over 23.33 lakh students had taken the test on May 5 at 4,750 centres in 571 cities, including in 14 cities overseas.

The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) is conducted by the NTA for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country.