The Supreme Court on Friday told the Centre to put an end to the “series of errors” surrounding the NEET-UG examination and sought details on its plans to shift to computer-based testing.
A bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe, while hearing the NEET paper leaks issue, told the Centre that they would be monitoring the issue “very closely” and would follow it up regularly.
“Please tell us what you are doing to shift completely to an online mode. Please tell us how you will protect data when we shift to computer-based testing...We will see to it that everything is institutionalised,” it said. “We cannot let this go on like this,” the top court added.
To this, Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, who is representing the Centre, said that the government is going 10 extra miles to address the issues for children. He also sought some more time to place before the court a “holistic view”.
The apex court also said that it would follow the progress of reforms and ensure that a strong institutional mechanism is created to protect the credibility of the country’s biggest medical entrance examination.
The court directed the Central government to submit a detailed affidavit explaining the measures planned to prevent question paper leaks and strengthen the examination system. It made it clear that temporary solutions would not be enough and emphasised the need for a permanent mechanism to safeguard national-level examinations.
The court has listed the matter on August 3. The NEET-UG paper leak controversy had raised serious concerns among students and parents over examination fairness. Lakhs of candidates appear in the exam every year for medical admissions and any breach hits students hard.
The court’s observations come amid the ongoing student protests at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar led by Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which has been demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the alleged NEET paper leaks. Earlier this week, a series of violent clashes took place on the streets of Delhi when the CJP began a “Chalo Sansad” march to Parliament, leading to injuries to both protesters and police. The Delhi police fired tear gas and baton-charged the protesters during the clashes. While protesters alleged brutal police action, the cops maintained that they exercised restraint and only acted to maintain law and order.
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