The Supreme Court will continue to hear a batch of pleas related to the controversy-ridden NEET-UG 2024, including those alleging irregularities and malpractices in the medical entrance test and seeking a direction to conduct it afresh. In the previous hearing, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud observed that cancelling the examination in its entirety is an “extreme last resort” as this step will affect more than 23 lakh students who took the test.
On Wednesday (July 10), the Centre told the Supreme Court that as per the data analytics of the examination conducted by IIT Madras, there is neither any indication of “mass malpractice” nor a localised set of candidates being benefitted leading to abnormal scores in the NEET.
It said the findings given by the experts show that the marks distribution follows the bell-shaped curve witnessed in any large-scale exam indicating no abnormality. In an additional affidavit filed in the apex court, it stated that for 2024-25, the counselling process for undergraduate seats will be conducted in four rounds starting from the third week of July.
Meanwhile, the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts the prestigious test, also filed a separate additional affidavit in the top court and said it has carried out an analysis of distribution of marks in NEET-UG 2024 at the national, state, city and centre level.
“This analysis indicates that the distribution of marks is quite normal and there seems to be no extraneous factor, which would influence the distribution of marks,” the National Testing Agency (NTA) said in its affidavit, which also gave details about the system in place for ensuring confidential printing of question papers, its transportation and distribution.
Why was the data analytics conducted?
The data analytics was conducted after the SC on July 8 observed that sanctity of the NEET has been “breached”. Hence, in its additional affidavit, the Centre said pursuant to the court’s direction, the ministry of education made a request to the IIT Madras director to undertake comprehensive data analytics of the results.
“It is submitted that pursuant thereto an exhaustive and elaborate technical evaluation of the data pertaining to the NEET-UG 2024 examination was carried out by IIT Madras, using the parameters like marks distribution, city-wise and centre-wise rank distribution and candidates spread over marks-range, and the following findings have been given by the experts of the IIT Madras…” the Centre said.
“The analysis shows that there is neither any indication of mass malpractice nor a localised set of candidates being benefitted leading to abnormal scores,” it said, while quoting the findings.
The affidavit further stated that as per the findings, there is an overall increase in the marks obtained by the students, specifically in the range of 550 to 720. “This increase is seen across the cities and centres. This is attributed to 25 per cent reduction in syllabus. In addition, candidates obtaining such high marks are spread across multiple cities and multiple centres, indicating very less likelihood of malpractice,” it said.
So, when will the counselling process begin?
About counselling, the Centre said the process for 2024-25 will be conducted in four rounds starting from the third week of July. “For any candidate, if it is found that he/she has been the beneficiary of any malpractice, candidature of such person will be cancelled at any stage during the counselling process or even afterwards,” it said.
The Centre said in respect of steps required to be taken in future to ensure that the exam process is more robust and insulant to any kind of malpractice, it has formed a high-level committee of experts to recommend effective measures for the conduct of transparent, smooth and fair examinations by the NTA.
The NEET-UG 2024 on May 5 was taken by 23.33 lakh students at 4,750 centres in 571 cities, including in 14 cities overseas. The Centre and the NTA, in their earlier affidavits filed before the SC, had said scrapping the exam will be “counterproductive” and “seriously jeopardise” lakhs of honest candidates in the absence of any proof of large-scale breach of confidentiality.
(With PTI inputs)
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