New Delhi, 23 July

The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the pleas seeking cancellation and re-test of the controversy-ridden NEET-UG 2024, holding that there was no data on record to indicate a systemic leak of question paper and other malpractices.

A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra heard submissions from a battery of lawyers, including Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre and the National Testing Agency (NTA), and senior advocates Narender Hooda, Sanjay Hegde and Mathews Nedumapra for around four days.

The bench dictated the operative part of the judgement keeping in mind the future of over two million students and said a detailed judgement will follow. "There is absence of material to conclude that result of NEET-UG 2024 exam is vitiated or there is systemic breach," the CJI said.

The bench, however, said the fact that the question paper leak took place in Hazaribagh and Patna was not in dispute. The NTA and the Union education ministry have been at the centre of a massive political row and protests by students over alleged large-scale malpractices ranging from question paper leaks to impersonation in the test held on 5 May.

The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) is conducted by the NTA for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country. The NEET-UG 2024 was taken by 23.33 lakh students at 4,750 centres in 571 cities, including in 14 overseas, on 5 May.