The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the re-examination planned by the National Examinations Agency (NTA) for the 1,563 candidates who had appeared in the NEET (NEET-UG 2024) examination or to postpone the counseling for medical college admissions scheduled to begin on July 6.
Adjourning the various petitions related to NEET for hearing on July 8, a vacation bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and SV Bhatti said that when the Supreme Court reconvenes after the summer vacation, there is a possibility of setting aside the entire exam if the petitions ultimately succeed, and therefore wait for the final verdict.
“Nothing will happen now. Leave everything aside. Where does the question of re-examination of 1,563 candidates come when there is an opportunity to set aside the May 5 exam itself?” Justice Nath said.
The lawyer appearing for the petitioner sought a ban on the re-examination, claiming that 753 of the 1,563 candidates had already failed and that the National Examinations Agency had withheld vital information from the court. “This gives them a second chance at the exam,” he said. He said it was unfair and inappropriate as there were deserving students who wanted to re-sit the exam and argued that re-sitters would suffer from re-siting stress.
On these arguments the bench questioned, “Are you concerned about them or are you concerned about other candidates or not being allowed to conduct the examination?” Justice Nath questioned.
“Your argument is that some failed students are allowed to re-exam. Now you say that those who are going to appear for the second time are under stress. You are presenting completely contradictory arguments,” said Justice Nath.
Another petition sought suspension of counseling for two days.
Rejecting the request, Judge Bhatti said, “Counseling cannot be conducted in any way. It’s a process. That process starts on July 6,” he said.
After being informed that the first round would last for about a week, Justice Bhatti added, “What is the duration of the first round? After that, within that week, the candidates will do whatever they want to do like corrections, modifications etc. After they are finalised, it will only come under the domain of Counseling Committee.”
Justice Bhatti said, “Students will know what is open to all colleges. Not that everything is accepted. So we allow this side or that side not to lose time,” he said.
Hearing another plea by a candidate who said he did not get enough time to write the exam due to his rare condition of being unable to hold a pen for more than 10 minutes, the Supreme Court asked the National Examinations Agency to decide whether to allow his representation for re-examination and to announce the decision by 4 pm on Friday.
