SC of India stresses accountability in NEET leak case, says students should not be disappointed

The Supreme Court on Friday stressed accountability in the NEET-UG paper leak case, calling the issue “very traumatic” for students and families. Hearing pleas seeking NTA reforms, the court said youngsters should not be disappointed. The Centre informed new safeguards have been introduced for the June 21 re-test

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday stressed on accountability for the lapses in the NEET paper leak issue and said it was “actually very traumatic” not only for the students but for their families as well if something like this happened.

“We should not disappoint our youngsters,” a bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe said while hearing pleas on the matter, including one seeking a direction to replace or restructure the National Testing Agency (NTA) with a robust and autonomous body to conduct the medical entrance examination.

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Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the bench that the government is seriously concerned about the concerns of the youths and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is personally supervising the situation so that there is no lacunae. “The real problem won’t stop till actual accountability arises,” the bench observed.

“It is actually very traumatic if something like this happens, not just for the students, but also their families and everybody,” the bench said, adding, “They invest so much emotion.” Mehta told the bench that some new mechanisms have been put in place for the NEET-UG re-test scheduled for June 21.

Asked the Centre to file an affidavit in the matter, the bench posted the matter for hearing in the second week of July.

On May 12, the NTA cancelled the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate), or NEET, held on May 3 for medical admissions amid allegations of paper leak. A re-examination has been scheduled for June 21.

The paper leak allegations are under investigation by the CBI. To recall, after the questions of NEET-UG were allegedly leaked in 2024, the top court had refused to cancel the test but passed various directions aimed at tackling paper leaks and also a criterion for cancelling public exams.