NEET question paper leak: No stay by Supreme Court on results

The Supreme Court on Friday declined to stay the publication of the results of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) 2024, the pre-medical entrance for candidates seeking admission to government and private medical colleges in India [Vanshika Yadav v UOI & Ors]. .The Court was hearing a plea to reconduct the exam following allegations of question paper leak this year. A Bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra said that it can't halt an all-India exam but proceeded to issue notice to the Central government on the plea and sought its response."We will keep it after the summer break, but cannot stay the results of an all-India exam," the Court observed..The petition was filed by one Vanshika Yadav through advocate Sunny Kadian.According to the plea, during the NEET undergraduate examination in Rajasthan, reports from national dailies revealed that the question paper was leaked before the test date and wrong question papers were given to candidates which caused confusion and chaos. "More concerning incidents have been seen at Patna, Bihar wherein numerous individuals have been apprehended by the State police on credible information of such accused having received the question paper a day prior to the said examination," the plea alleged..The Economic and Cyber Crimes Division in Bihar and Patna took over the investigation and noted that prima facie, the leak was done by an organized gang. Following the investigation, 13 accused individuals were arrested and placed in judicial custody.The severity of the matter is highlighted by various news reports suggesting the involvement of a ringleader in the paper leak racket, allegedly obtaining the NEET question paper for a staggering sum of ₹60 crore in Uttar Pradesh, the plea said..It was further submitted that the leakage raises serious concerns about the security measures in place to safeguard the integrity of the examination process."This Hon'ble Court in a similar situation of widespread paper leak of All India Pre-Medical and Pre-Dental Entrance Test, 2015 held under the aegis of CBSE in the case of Tanvi Sarwal Versus Central Board of Secondary Education & Ors. (2015) 6 SCC 573, cancelled the examination and directed the CBSE to conduct fresh examination within 4 weeks and further directed the investigation agencies to expedite the investigation process in the context of such incident," the petition pointed out..Advocates Sumit Kumar Sharma, Rajat Sangwan and Vaibhav Yadav appeared for the petitioner, a medical sciences aspirant who had given the exam this year.