The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed proceedings of all cases concerning alleged leaks and malpractices related to the NEET-UG 2024 row in various high courts, reported Bar and Bench.
A division bench comprising Justice Vikram Nath and Justice SVN Bhatti issued a notice on the petitions by the National Testing Agency (NTA) to transfer all NEET-related petitions from seven high courts to be heard collectively in the Supreme Court.
The apex court also sent a notice to the Centre and the NTA about petitions asking for the cancellation of the NEET-UG 2024 and for an investigation into the alleged issues with the medical entrance exam.
The matter has been tagged with related pleas and will be heard next on July 8.
During the hearing, when counsel for the NTA requested a stay on the high court proceedings, the Court said, “Please tell the High Court that notice has been issued now. Earlier you must have said that transfer filed…today only we read in Bar & Bench and Live Law regarding what happened in the OMR sheet case.”
In response to a plea by students who lost 45 minutes of exam time at a centre in Meghalaya, the Court said, “No stay on counselling. If examination goes after final hearing, then counselling also goes.”
The top court recently heard 14 petitions, including 10 filed by 49 students and the ‘Student Federation of India,’ and four submitted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). The NTA’s petitions sought to transfer all pending cases related to the NEET exam from various high courts to the Supreme Court.
Among the students’ petitions was a request to establish a court-appointed committee. The Supreme Court directed the lawyer to list this matter for July 8, along with the other petitions.
The Supreme Court also refused to pause the NEET counselling process, maintaining that the counselling would proceed if the examination continued after the final hearing.
During the hearing, one of the students’ lawyers argued that students who took the exam at the Meghalaya center lost 45 minutes and should be included among the 1,563 affected students. The bench responded by issuing a notice and requesting a reply from the Union government and NTA by July 8, without granting a stay.