SC seeks NBE's response on plea seeking disclosure of NEET-PG question paper, answer keys

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to examine a plea challenging the refusal of the National Board of Examinations (NBE) to disclose question papers, answer keys or response sheets of candidates of National Eligibility-cum-Entrance (NEET)-PG 2024 exam.

The NEET-PG exam was conducted by the NBE on August 11 and the results were announced on August 23.

Posting the matter for hearing on September 20, a bench headed by CJI DY Chandrachud asked the petitioner side to serve a copy of plea on NBE, apart from serving the standing counsel.

The plea said that there was a clear lack of transparency in the conduct of the examination since none of the documents allowed a student to check his performance, adding that neither the question paper, nor the response sheet filled in by candidates, nor answer key was supplied to the students, and merely a score card has been provided.

The petition, filed through advocate Parul Shukla, highlighted that unlike previous years where the candidate used to receive their total score along with the number of correctly attempted questions and the number of incorrectly attempted questions, the results released on August 23 did not provide the total score of the candidate.

“The method/manner in which examination under the NEET PG 2024 is conducted by the Respondents (authorities) is manifestly arbitrary and against the principles of transparency and fairness in state action as enshrined under Article 14 of the Constitution of India,” it added.

The plea said that NEET-PG had never been held in two shifts before and had always remained a single-shift and single-day examination to ensure a uniform examination standard and fairness of the national exam.

It highlighted a “serious patent defect in the conduct of the examination”, requiring redressal in order to achieve a clean, transparent and effective system of examination which gives the best candidates.

It further said, “The NEET-PG being a multidisciplinary exam where one’s rank also determines their ability to opt for the course and field of their choice, any slight variation in marks would bar several candidates from specialising in their field of interest.”

In August this year, the top court refused to entertain a plea seeking directions to reschedule the NEET-PG 2024 exam.

A bench headed by CJI Chandrachud remarked that the examination where two lakh students are going to appear cannot be halted at the instance of four petitioners.

Dismissing the plea, the bench, also comprising Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said: "We will not reschedule or pass any orders. There are 2 lakh students and close to 4 lakh parents who would weep if we touch this matter. At the behest of four-five petitioners, we cannot jeopardise the careers of two lakh students. We will not do it."

The petition had sought the postponement of the exam on the grounds that candidates have been allocated cities which are highly inconvenient for them to reach and the formula for normalisation is unknown to them. It also sought details and disclosure of the formula for the normalisation of the four sets of question papers to eliminate any possibility of arbitrariness in the process.