The Supreme Court on Tuesday, July 23 in its final hearing of the contentious NEET case, refused to cancel the NEET-UG 2024 examination. The CBI investigation into the question paper leaks would continue, however.

A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misr rejected the pleas seeking cancellation and a re-test, stating there was no evidence to prove that the NEET-UG examination results were compromised or that there was a systemic breach in its integrity.

The Court ruled that counselling and other admission processes would continue as planned.

The NEET-UG examination had come under scrutiny due to allegations of irregularities and concerns about paper leaks.

Several pleas were filed in the Supreme Court and high courts after the NEET-UG results were announced on June 4, seeking cancellation, a re-test, and a court-monitored probe into the examination held on May 5. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) confirmed that a paper leak had occurred at the Patna and Hazaribagh centres.

In its judgment today, the Supreme Court recognised that ordering a fresh examination for this year would have severe consequences for the over 24 lakh students who took the examination, competing for 1.08 lakh seats, with 56,000 seats in government colleges and 52,000 in private institutions. It noted that such a decision would disrupt the admission schedule and have cascading effects on the course of medical education.

It, however, indicated that the CBI investigation into the question paper leaks would continue.

Chief Justice Chandrachud stated, “By an interim order of this court, while flagging the principal issues in contention, this court had called for a disclosure on affidavit by the NTA, Union and the CBI. Role of CBI comes to play as FIR in Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Bihar, and Jharkhand has been transferred to the CBI.”