"Serious Consequences": What Supreme Court Said On NEET Retest

In this batch of cases, the central issue being raised before this court is that a direction be issued for convening a retest on the ground that 1) The leak was of the question paper and 2) That there were systemic deficiencies in the conduct of the exam.

At this stage, the court has independently scrutinised the data placed on record by the National Testing Agency. There is absence of material on record to lead to the conclusion that the result of the exam is vitiated or that there is a systemic breach of the sanctity of the exam.

The fact that the leak of NEET UG 2024 paper took place at (Jharkhand's) Hazaribagh and in Patna is not in dispute... Data on record is not indicative of a systemic leak of the question paper which would indicate a disruption of the sanctity of the exam. 

The court realises that directing a fresh NEET UG for the present year would be replete with serious consequences for over 24 lakh students who appeared in this exam. It will cause disruption of the admission schedule and have cascading effects on the course of medical education. It could also impact the availability of qualified medical professionals in the future and could be seriously disadvantageous for the marginalised group for whom reservation was made in allocation of seats.

Thus we are of the view that ordering cancellation of the entire exam is not justified on application of settled principles propounded by this court on the basis of material on record.