A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, is set to hear on July 8, Monday, more than 35 petitions challenging the irregularities, paper leak and other issues in the NEET-UG examination, seeking various directions including CBI probe and the exam to be held afresh.These petitions have been filed by various educational institutions, student groups and individual students. A group of 20 students, who had appeared in the medical entrance exam, have filed a plea in the top court seeking direction for scrapping of the NEET-UG exam and an apex court-monitored probe by the CBI or any other independent agency into the alleged irregularities.The Central government on Friday told the Supreme Court, through an affidavit, that the exam held on May 5 should not be cancelled, as it would seriously jeopardise lakhs of honest candidates who attempted it. “Scrapping the exam in its entirety would seriously jeopardise lakhs of honest candidates who attempted the question paper,” the affidavit filed by the Union Ministry of Education said.It added that the affidavit, filed in the top court, was bonafide and in the interest of justice.The Union of India (UOI) told the apex court that the genuine concerns raised by the petitioners, based on proven facts, must be addressed. The prayers raised by many petitioners for cancellation of the exam and the re-test based on “surmises” and “conjectures” must be rejected. The Government is committed to ensure the sanctity of examinations and to protect the interest of students, the Centre said.It further submitted that it was not rational to scrap the entire (NEET-UG) exam in the absence of any proof of large-scale breach of confidentiality. It assured the SC that it was committed towards the conduct of all competitive examinations in a fair and transparent manner. “Stern action will be taken against the criminals if it is found that the confidentiality of the papers has been compromised,” the Centre said.In a similar development in the case, the Bihar government, in its affidavit, said that the police registered an FIR in the Shastrinagar Police Station in Patna under various sections of the IPC including 120-B (Criminal Conspiracy), 407 (Criminal breach of trust) and others and has arrested 13 accused for their alleged role in the exam. “The state agencies carried out a detailed and scientific investigation. Some of the accused were found to be involved in other similar offences in the past. Even the candidates were questioned. Four candidates who admitted their involvement in illegalities were also arrested ,” it said. On May 17, the case was transferred to the Economic Offences Unit, Patna.The NTA (National Testing Agency) which conducts the exam, also filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court opposing the cancellation of the NEET-UG exam. “The alleged malpractices are only in Patna and Godhra centres and the entire exam shall not be cancelled based on individual instances,” the NTA said. The top court had earlier stayed the proceedings on the batch of pleas filed before various State High Courts in the same issue, after hearing the plea filed by the NTA and issued notice on the agency’s plea in connection with this year’s NEET-UG exam.
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