SC Refuses to Accept Plea to Conduct NEET-UG Retest in CBT Mode

A bench of Justices P.S. Narasimha and Aravind Kumar posted the petition filed by RJD MP Sudhakar Singh and others for hearing on July 27, but declined to direct that the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate), or NEET-UG, be conducted in CBT mode instead of the existing pen-and-paper format.

The NTA had cancelled the NEET-UG examination held on May 3 amid allegations of a question paper leak. The CBI is investigating the case, and a re-test has been scheduled for June 21.

Appearing for the petitioners, advocate Satyam Singh Rajput urged the court to direct the NTA to hold the re-examination in CBT mode.

The bench, however, said: “There is no question of conducting the re-examination in CBT mode. They (the NTA) are already facing too many problems. The examination was cancelled and is now being re-conducted. Either we dismiss this petition now or after the vacation.”

When Rajput said the petitioners were pressing only the prayer related to CBT mode, the court noted that similar pleas had been dismissed earlier. Justice Narasimha also asked the counsel to appreciate the pressure under which the NTA was functioning.

Meanwhile, a Delhi court sent three accused in the NEET paper leak case — physics translator Manisha Sanjay Hawaldar, paediatrician Dr Manoj Shirure and physics teacher Tejas Harshadkumar Shah — to 14 days of judicial custody.

The CBI alleged that Hawaldar, in conspiracy with other accused, illegally retained and distributed NEET-UG question papers for money. It also alleged that Shirure played a key role in helping three students obtain Chemistry questions from NEET paper setter P.V. Kulkarni. The agency has already arrested Kulkarni and Shivraj Raghunath Motegaonkar, who allegedly ran the operation.