NEET Hearing Updates: SC Directs NTA To Publish Centre-Wise Results on Website By Saturday Noon

On NTA's Request, SC granted NTA time till Saturday noon to declare the results. Read More.

Supreme Court will resume the hearing on NEET retest pleas on Monday at 10.30 am

Supreme Court directed the NTA to publish the results of NEET-UG 24 exam on their website city-wise and centre-wise masking the identity of the candidates. “ We direct the NTA to publish the marks obtained by students in the NEET-UG 24 exam while ensuring that the identity of the students is masked...The results should be declared separately city and centre- wise. Results will be uploaded by 5PM tomorrow,” CJI said.

CJI : Assuming that happens, according to you that students got papers at 10.15 AM. There are 180 questions. Is it possible that between 9.30 and 10.15 that there are problem solvers and putting them to students in 45 minutes?
SG : There were 7 solvers and they divided 25 students each. The questions were jumbled and so students were made to memorize.
CJI : The whole hypothesis that the entire paper was solved in 45 minutes and given to students is too far fetched.
SG : Students got only 2 hours to memorise the questions. That is why only out of 18 students, only one student is possibly getting admission, but he will face debarment.
SG : The total number of such students will not cross 150.
 

CJI : Mr. Solicitor, you engage a private courier company (to despatch NEET papers)?

CJI : According to the confessions of accused arrested by Bihar Police, students were made to memorize on May 5 morning. That means prior to 5th May somebody has solved the question papers. If somebody has solved the papers, it has happened prior to May 5. So the leak happened prior to May 4th night. Question is when the leak happened.

CJI : There are two possibilities. One the paper gets leaked before the custody of banks. That means, it happened before May 3. Second, the leak happened when the papers left the banks and are bound for the centre. An alternative hypothesis that a leak happened in the custody of banks is possible according to you, which means May 3. Between May 3 and May 5 is a long interval..

Hooda : The papers were in private hands for a long time, in a courier company, in e-rickshaws.

Anurag Yadav's scorecard reveals that he scored 185 marks out of 720, resulting in a total percentile score of 54.84. His individual subject scores show a peculiar pattern: 85.82 percentile in Physics, 51.04 percentile in Biology, and a notably low 5.04 percentile in Chemistry. Anurag secured an all-India rank of 10,51,525 and an OBC category rank of 4,67,824. Another arrested candidate, Ayush Raj, scored 300 marks out of 720, with a total percentile of 73.36. His individual scores also display discrepancies: 87.80 percentile in Biology, but only 15.52 and 15.36 percentiles in Physics and Chemistry, respectively.

Republic World on June 21 accessed the scorecards of the four candidates arrested in Bihar for their involvement in the paper leak. According to their confession letters, the individuals behind the leak charged up to Rs 32 lakh for the compromised question papers. The four NEET aspirants confessed that the question paper was leaked on the eve of the May 5 exam, with the same questions appearing in the actual test. Sikandar Prasad Yadavendu, a junior engineer at Bihar's Danapur Town Council, is alleged to be the mastermind. Yadavendu reportedly provided the leaked paper to his nephew, Anurag Yadav. Read more.

According to the CBI, candidates from various states, including Odisha, Bihar, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh, were manipulated to select Gujarati as their language for writing the exam and falsely declare local addresses to facilitate cheating. Read full story here.

The idea of somebody doing this is not to make a national charade of NEET exam. People were doing it for money. Therefore anybody who is making money out of it won't circulate it mass scale, the Chief Justice of India said.
 

Contrary to earlier reports suggesting that Bihar was the source of the leak, the CBI's investigation has revealed that the initial breach occurred in Hazaribagh, a city in Jharkhand. The CBI's probe has not only pinpointed Hazaribagh as the epicentre of the leak but has also uncovered strong ties between the scandal and several prominent educational institutions within Jharkhand.

Read More.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier said, while referring to the alleged NEET scam, addressed the issue of paper leaks in the country, saying that the government is working on a war-like scenario to take steps to bring the culprits to justice. PM Modi assured the country that the government is taking critical steps to address the NEET exam leak controversy adding that those messing with the Indian youth's future will not be spared.

Addressing the Lok Sabha, Prime Minister Modi said, "I will tell every student of the country, every youth of the country that the government is very serious about preventing such incidents and we are taking one step after another to fulfill our responsibilities on a war footing. Those who play with the future of the youth will not be spared at all.” Read More.

Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai on Monday reiterated his demand that the Tamil Nadu government issue a white paper on medical admissions pre and post NEET and claimed that the central qualifying test is beneficial to the poorer sections of the society. Read more.

In 2015, the AIPMT was conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) before the establishment of the NTA in November 2017. Over 6 lakh candidates appeared for the AIPMT on May 3 at 1,050 centres across India. However, the Supreme Court, recognizing severe irregularities, cancelled the exam on June 15, directing that a re-test be conducted within four weeks. Read Full Story Here.

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on July 11, met with several NEET aspirants at his residence to address concerns over alleged irregularities in this year's medical entrance exam, as per PTI. During the meeting, students expressed their worries about the uncertainty surrounding the exam's outcome, delays in the counselling process, and the potential impact on the academic calendar. Read More.

 The CJI noted that the question papers were sent to the SBI and Canara Bank branches in the 571 cities. They were dispatched on April 24 and were received on May 3. So, the time gap is about nine days.

SG explains why the IIT report chart did not show Jaipur, because there was no increase in the number of toppers compared to last year. 

Advocate representing petitioners, Narendra Hooda said, “Insertion of candidates who used unfair means cannot be detected with analytics of such a large data. They have not declared the results of all candidates. They have given a sampling to suit their own....”

NTA counsel : Out of the new registrations, about 12,000 students are failing.

SG : This was not intended to help someone in particular. It was a pro-student measure. Only 44 out of the new registrations are getting admissions.

CJI : The order was only for one candidate? 

SG : We received several representations, so we thought, as a student friendly measure will open. 

CJI : This order was only for one student who didn't pay fee. And what does NTA do? N allows every one to apply.

SG : We received 15,000 new registrations approx. Out of this new 15,094 students, those who will be getting admission in one lakh eight thousand is only 44.

CJI has asked NTA counsel about the Rajasthan HC order which the NTA cited to open a new window for fresh applications.

The hearing on NEET pleas resumed.

On the issue of the ongoing probe, the bench said, "The CBI probe is on. If what the CBI has told us is revealed, it will affect the investigation and people will become wise."

"Re-examination has to be on concrete footing that the sanctity of the entire test was affected," the CJI said.

Hearing will resume at 2 pm after lunch break. 

‘If the HC order was only for one student, how did you reopen the window for 15,000 new students?’CJI Asks NTA

NTA : 15,000 new applications were received..as far as change of centre, petitioners have focused only on Godhra. 

CJI : Do we have any data on how many students, out of one lakh eight thousand, have changed their cities? We would like to see the distribution and was the change to any of the suspected areas?

“Those who changed the centres, how many of them made it to one lakh eight thousand? Two, is there any skew in favour of those who registered on April 9 & 10,” CJI asked.

Hooda : They opened a window for new applications in April 9 & 10...they say it was based on an order of Rajasthan HC. But HC order was only for one candidate.

CJI : When the candidates fill the application forms, they have to opt the city or centre? 

NTA : City.

 CJI : So what they can change is only the city. No candidate can choose the centre. Centre is alloted by the system.

NTA : Centre allotment is only two days before the exam. So nobody knows which centre is going to be allotted. 
 

CJI : 67 students who secured 720/720... 

SG : That is reduced after re-exam.. 

CJI : How many of them were in 1563? 

NTA counsel says that the 44 were given marks for the questions having one extra answer as per NCERT booklet.

CJI : As matter stands now, 61 students get 720/720, out of whom 44 are students who got extra marks for the two correct options for a question. So the number really is 17.. In the entire exam, how many students changed their centre? How many out of 23.33 lakhs. 

NTA counsel : In the name of corrections, they change centres. During that process, only the possibility of changing happens. We will never know it. As of now system doesn't catch that.

CJI : Out of top 100 rankers, AP got seven, Bihar seven, Gujarat seven, Haryana four, Delhi three, Karnataka 6, Kerala 5, Maharashtra 5, TN 8, UP 6, WB 5...So it appears that the spread in the top hundred marks is distributed across the country, 12 states and one UT.
SG : Top 100 rankers are spread across 95 centres located in 56 cities within 18 States/UTs. 
 

Highlighting the issue of Hardayal School, Bahadurgarh, Hooda said, "One Hardayal School from Bahadurgarh has a special story...there were 6 people...What happened in Bahadurgarh is glaring. NTA never disclosed that the question paper taken from Canara bank was distributed. There was no delay. The principal of school is on record that they collected papers from SBI and Canara Bank and that the…. SG : That is a different issue... Hooda : Allow me to say...they are getting agitated..

Hooda : Centres across the country were given paper from SBI bank but in Hardayal school paper from Canara bank was given. The principal says that the instruction was that let the students attempt Canara bank paper. They gave grace marks to everyone in the school. Because of that extra marks, 6 people got 720/720, two people from the same centre got 718.

Hooda : They have not come clean on that. First they said there was delay in distribution. When they were caught, then they said we are having a re-exam and don't go into the issue of grace marks. The question who they gave grace marks to 1563 odd people has not been examined by this court.

Hooda : To hush up the matter, they have a re-exam.

 CJI : Mr.Hooda, that issue has attained finality. This Court has upheld the re-examination.

As per the NTA affidavit, there are nine people from Jaipur, which IIT has not captured in their report, says Hoods. 

SG : The purpose is to show that the toppers are spread over. Just to show that and that there is no abnormal spike in any particular centre.

SG : The chart given in the IIT-M Data Analysis report shows 17 out of students who got first 100 ranks...

Hooda : Why give only for 17? 

CJI to SG : If you have a break up of top 100 rank, you can give. Which are the cities from which they are?

NTA counsel says that the NTA affidavit has annexed the details of top 100 ranks. 
 

Hooda : NTA and Govt are attributing two reasons for the exponential inflation in marks - one, there was reduction of syllabus; two, increase in number of candidates. The reply is not giving a full disclosure. There is an increase in the syllabus too. 

Hooda : There is increase and decrease both in the syllabus. They are not talking about the increase in syllabus. I can show the increased portions.

Hooda : Inflation of marks is admitted, leak is admitted. The curve shows no indication that there is no abnormality. Because, the data is too large, which cannot be caught. Granular variations can't be seen with this large data of 23 lakh candidates.

Hooda : There are 571 cities. They say toppers are evenly spread. But the data they give is of only 17 students. Why are they shying away? If they have run it for top 100, they should give for top 100 and not just 17. 
 

Sr Adv Narender Hooda is reading the IIT Madras report on NEET paper leak allegations. 

 Senior Advocate Hooda raised significant concerns regarding the reliability of the data analysis conducted by IIT Madras. Hooda argued that the current data analysis, which considered the performance of all 23 lakh students, was flawed and not indicative of potential irregularities.

Hooda began by highlighting a key handicap: "I am starting with a handicap. I do not have the results. Because of that, I cannot have the data analytics." He emphasized that the proper procedure should involve focusing on a smaller subset of candidates, specifically the 1 lakh eight thousand students likely to secure admissions. "If data analytics is to be run for 23 lakhs, at what stage, if 10,000 or 20,000 people have sneaked into it, you cannot detect any abnormality. The correct procedure was to apply this process to 1 lakh eight thousand people," Hooda stated.

The Chief Justice of India (CJI), D Y Chandrachud, sought clarification on this point, asking Hooda if the analysis, according to him, should be restricted to the figure of 1 lakh eight thousand candidates. Hooda affirmed this, arguing that the IIT Madras report based on the broader data set was not reliable. He also raised a potential conflict of interest, noting that one of the directors of IIT Madras is a member of the Governing Body of the National Testing Agency (NTA).

However, the Solicitor General (SG) countered Hooda's assertion, stating, "That is factually wrong. Somebody else was," disputing the claim of a conflict of interest involving the IIT Madras Director.

CBI has filed a second status report in the court.  However, CJI said, “Today an investigation is going on. If what CBI has told us is revealed, it will affect the investigation. People will become wise... ”
 

Solicitor General : There are a total of 131 students who are not falling within 1 lakh eight thousand, who want a re-test and there are 254 who are falling within 1 lakh eight thousand who are opposing the re-test.

CJI : What is the cut-off mark for the 56,000 (govt seats) and the 1 lakh eight thousand? 

Sanjay Hegde : Anybody above 50 percentile qualifies. 164 is the cut-off mark. About half the petitioners have the qualification to be alloted a seat. Admission is a dynamic process, some many not opt for medicine, some may go for IIT. The figures may come down.

There are only 1.08 lakh seats in government and private medical colleges of India. The advocate representing the petitioners said that there are 56,000 seats in government colleges and 52,000 seats in private medical colleges.

CJI : “Merely because out of 23 lakh only 1 lakh will get admission, we cannot order a re-examination. Re-examination has to be on a concrete footing that the entire exam is affected.”

Advocate Hooda : The stake is of only one lakh people not 23 lakh.

Hooda : Segregation of untainted is not possible... 

CJI : Conceptually, if you can establish that, then the whole exam will go.

Hearing on NEET-UG pleas has begun in Supreme Court.

The proceedings at Supreme Court will commence at 11.15 AM in view of the swearing-in ceremony for two new judges.

From February 16 to 28, 2024, a committee of 10 subject experts and moderators compiled the question bank into question papers. This process was conducted under CCTV surveillance, and two independent sets of question papers (QP1 and QP2) were prepared for each subject

NTA emphasized that conducting a re-examination for 2.5 million students would jeopardize their futures.

The NTA has denied allegations of the question paper being circulated on Telegram. They stated that the message and image allegedly showing the leak were doctored, manipulated, edited, and anti-dated. The examination concluded at 5:20 PM on May 5, 2024, and the alleged leak time of 5:40 PM clearly indicates that the question paper was already accessible to the public. Discussions within the Telegram channel suggested that members identified the video as fake, with a manipulated timestamp intended to create a false impression of an early leak. Telegram’s Terms of Service allow editing of messages and files up to 48 hours after sending, corroborating the claim that the images were edited to suggest a May 4th leak.

NTA has submitted an affidavit in the Supreme Court concerning the controversy surrounding the NEET-UG 2024 examination. In its statement, the NTA asserted that there was no systematic failure in the examination process and addressed the incidents reported in Bihar, stating that investigations into these events are underway. The agency again denied the allegations of NEET paper leaks on social media. The Supreme Court is set to hear the case today, where various petitions related to the NEET-UG examination will be considered. Read more.

Earlier, CBI arrested Pankaj Kumar and Raju Singh, accused of stealing the question paper for the medical entrance test conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). Kumar, reportedly involved in a paper leak mafia, allegedly orchestrated the theft of NEET-UG question papers with Singh's assistance. Pankaj Kumar was arrested in Patna, Bihar, while Raju Singh was apprehended in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand.

CBI on Thursday detained 3 doctors from AIIMS Patna in connection with the NEET-UG paper leak scam ahead of a Supreme Court hearing.

These doctors, who belong to the 2021 batch, have been taken into custody for questioning. The CBI has sealed their rooms and confiscated their laptops and mobile phones as part of the investigation.

During the last hearing on July 11, the bench acknowledged receipt of a status report from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) regarding the investigation into the alleged paper leak and stated that it would be considered in today's session. NTA stated that the paper leak wass not widespread and conducting a retest would not be fair to other candidates.

 A bench led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, along with Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, will address over 40 pleas.