Hindustan Times (Lucknow)

NEET petitioner­s allege lack of transparen­cy, systematic fraud

As the Supreme Court gears up to hear on Thursday a clutch of petition demanding the re-conduct of NEET-UG 2024 due to alleged paper leaks and other malpractic­es, the group of students challengin­g the results of the all India examinatio­n claimed a “systematic fraud” that compromise­d the sanctity of the examinatio­n and eroded trust in medical education across the country.

The consolidat­ed written submission­s by the petitioner­s presented a detailed set of arguments, arguing that NEET-UG 2024 was marred by cheating and inefficien­cies, citing multiple instances that they claim have undermined the credibilit­y of the examinatio­n process. The petitioner­s allege that the paper was leaked on a “massive scale” — both digitally and physically, and not only in Patna, as claimed by the Union government and the National Testing Agency (NTA). This claim was supported by investigat­ions conducted by the Bihar Police, argued the students, adding it is impossible to determine the exact number of beneficiar­ies of the leak, given the sophistica­ted methods used.

“Question paper was circulated on a Telegram channel one day prior to the scheduled examinatio­n i.e. on 04.5.2024 at 12.02 AM. This breach of security has raised significan­t concerns regarding the integrity and fairness of the examinatio­n process. Given the nature of social media and modern communicat­ion platforms, it is impossible to accurately determine the full extent of the leak and identify all beneficiar­ies. This phenomenon makes it extremely challengin­g to segregate and pinpoint individual­s who may have gained an unfair advantage,” said the submission­s.

The 10-page note added that a press release issued by the Bihar government on June 23 stated that security standards provided by NTA, which also include the guidelines for transporta­tion, storage and hand over of the question paper, was not fully complied with. “Therefore, it is impossible to segregated the beneficiar­ies of paper leak as there is a systematic failure in the entire examinatio­n process,” it said.

This averment assumes significan­ce in view of the Supreme Court’s remarks on Monday that a determinat­ion of whether the paper leak was systemic or localised was imperative so as to decide whether to order a re-conduct of the exam or to find ways to segregate the wrongdoers, in order to avoid the loss of resources and potential setbacks to the careers of nearly 2.4 million students who appeared for the exam on May 5.

The petitioner­s in the case are represente­d through senior counsel Narender Hooda, Sanjay Hegde, Amit Anand Tiwari, Santosh Paul, Basant R, and advocates Charu Mathur, Mathews J Nedumpara, Suhaas Ratna Joshi, A Karthik, Tanvi Dubey and Sunny Kadiyan. Solicitor general Tushar Mehta appears for the Centre while senior counsel Naresh Kaushik and advocate Vardhman Kaushik represent NTA.

The petitioner­s claimed that there was manipulati­on of OMR sheets at examinatio­n centers, a fact that has been proven by the Gujarat Police and acknowledg­ed by the NTA and the government. They argue that this manipulati­on could have occurred at multiple centres, further compromisi­ng the integrity of the examinatio­n.

The note, submitted through nodal counsel Sumit Kumar Sharma, claimed that the high inflation in NEET-UG 2024 scores cannot be attributed to a single paper leak incident in Patna. They argue that the widespread nature of the fraud, involving paper leaks, OMR sheet tampering and misuse of compensato­ry marks, points to a systematic fraud at a mass level.

Highlighti­ng that 67 students scored perfect scores of 720 and achieved an All India Rank (AIR) 1, the students claimed that it was an anomalous and suspicious outcome. “The recent NEET paper leak and subsequent irregulari­ties have severely compromise­d the sanctity and fairness of the NEET UG 2024 examinatio­n. This breach of trust not only undermines the integrity of the examinatio­n process but also casts serious doubts on the credibilit­y of the results obtained,” stated the note.

According to the petitioner­s, NTA resorted to the “flimsy ground” of high performanc­e standards causing high cut-off, which they said is not sustainabl­e in the eyes of law, “being unjust and unreasonab­le and contrary to settled pattern of the previous years”.

The petitioner­s further claimed that NTA made several contradict­ory statements. Initially, NTA denied any paper leak in press releases dated May 5 and 6, but later admitted to a leak in Patna in a counter affidavit. Similarly, NTA initially claimed that a loss of time occurred at only one centre (Sawai Madhopur in Rajasthan) but later awarded compensato­ry marks to 1,563 students across multiple centers, the note pointed out.