NEET-UG 2024 row: Students petition Supreme Court seeking directions for NTA to conduct fresh examinations

The Supreme Court has requested responses from the Centre, the National Testing Agency (NTA), and other concerned parties regarding petitions that seek to cancel NEET-UG 2024 and initiate a court-monitored investigation into alleged irregularities in the medical entrance exam.

A vacation bench of Justices Vikram Nath and SVN Bhatti also sought responses from the parties on separate pleas filed by the NTA to transfer some pending petitions from the high courts to the apex court.

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“Supreme Court also issued notice to the Centre and NTA on a petition filed by some students who appeared in Meghalaya centre for the NEET-UG exam and allegedly lost 45 minutes and prayed they should be a part of the 1563 students who got grace marks and were given the option to appear for re-exam on June 23,” newswire ANI reported.

The bench has scheduled the hearing for these petitions on July 8.

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PTI reported that one petition, filed by 20 students who participated in the medical entrance exam, additionally requests the court to direct the NTA and other relevant parties to conduct a fresh examination.

The petitions include four transfer petitions filed by NTA, in which the court stayed the proceedings before the respective high courts. 

While hearing separate pleas concerning the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate)-2024 examination, the apex court on June 18 said that even if there was "0.001 per cent negligence" on the part of anyone in conducting the examination, it should be thoroughly dealt with.

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The NTA administers the All India Pre-Medical Entrance Test. Recently, the Supreme Court addressed multiple petitions concerning NEET-UG 2024 grievances, requesting responses from the Centre and NTA.

One petition called for a CBI investigation into allegations of question paper leaks and other exam irregularities. The exam was conducted on May 5 across 4,750 centres, with approximately 24 lakh candidates participating.

(With inputs from agencies)