NEET UG 2024: The Supreme Court is hearing petitions demanding the cancellation of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET UG 2024) examination today. To avoid the bulk of cases, the bench had earlier directed the transfer of pending cases related to NEET UG controversies against the National Testing Agency (NTA) to the Supreme Court on Monday. Meanwhile, a special court in Patna on Wednesday sent the main accused in the NEET UG paper leak case to CBI custody for 14 days.
The apex court is hearing over 40 petitions seeking the cancellation of NEET and against NTA. The Supreme Court's decision will impact over 23 lakh medical aspirants seeking admissions in MBBS, BDS in India. While rumors of NEET paper leaks began circulating on social media a few days before the exam date, NTA dismissed the claims and stated that the exam would be conducted as per the scheduled program. Later, with an unprecedented number of students achieving top scores in NEET results 2024, doubts regarding the NEET paper leak escalated.
Although NTA issued clarifications on grace marks and toppers, a significant number of students demanded a re-examination. The Supreme Court also mentioned that if the paper was leaked on social media, a re-examination would be necessary. Subsequently, the Ministry of Education urged the Director of IIT Madras for a detailed report on irregularities in NEET results and protested against renege.
Through detailed analysis by IIT-M, it was found that there were no systemic or local irregularities in the NEET UG 2024 examination. It stated, "IIT Madras conducted data analysis using Python for data processing, PostgreSQL for data storage, and Metabase for data analysis, after requiring multiple data and information from NTA."
Yesterday, the CBI arrested Jamshedpur's National Institute of Technology (NIT) civil engineer Pankaj Kumar alias Aditya, of the 2017 batch, on charges of stealing NEET-UG papers from NTA's trunk in Hazaribagh.
In addition, in the case of leaking the NEET UG paper, the CBI arrested three doctors from Patna AIIMS on Wednesday, July 18, 2021. These three doctors are medical students from the 2021 batch. The CBI has sealed the rooms of these three doctors and also confiscated their laptops and mobile phones.
Meanwhile, the Medical Counseling Committee (MCC) has opened portals for all medical colleges to submit details for available MBBS seats for NEET UG counseling 2024. The Center had also announced that MCC NEET counseling 2024 will begin in the third week.