NEET 2024: Supreme Court refuses to stay counselling process

Seeks NTA response on plea for fresh NEET-UG amid ‘paper leak’, ‘malpractice’ allegations

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought the National Testing Agency’s response to a plea seeking fresh conduct of medical entrance exam NEET-UG, 2024, on the grounds of alleged question paper leak and other malpractices.

A vacation Bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah, however, refused to stay the counselling of successful candidates for admissions to MBBS, BDS and other courses.

NEET-UG, 2024 was held on May 5 and its results were declared on June 4. It was expected to be declared on June 14. The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) examination is conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for admissions to MBBS, BDS and AYUSH and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country.

The top court tagged the plea filed by Shivangi Mishra and others with the pending one and asked the NTA to file the response in the meantime. The plea alleged that NEET-UG, 2024, was riddled with malpractices as various instances of paper leaks have come to the knowledge of the petitioners.

The alleged paper leak was violative of Article 14 (right to equality) under the Constitution as it gave an undue advantage to some candidates over others who chose to attempt the examination in a fair manner, it said.