New Delhi, Aug 13: The Supreme Court on Monday declined to interfere with the Centre’s decision to cancel the University Grants Commission (UGC) National Eligibility Test (NET), 2024, emphasising that any intervention at this stage would create “utter chaos” for nearly nine lakh students who are expected to take the rescheduled exam on August 21.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) who pointed to the broader implications of delaying or altering the UGC NET exam process, as it dismissed a petition filed jointly by a group of 47 candidates.
During the hearing, the bench, which also comprised justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, addressed the counsel representing the petitioners, who argued that the cancellation was based on unsubstantiated allegations of a paper leak.
The lawyer contended that the inquiry into the alleged paper leak was based on “doctored messages” and that the government had no substantial grounds for cancelling the exam.
The bench, however, stressed the importance of maintaining certainty and finality for the students.
“How can we now cancel?” asked the court, adding, “We are not in a perfect world. Let the exams happen on August 21. Let there be certainty for students.”
The bench expressed concern over the potential disruption to the academic calendar and the adverse impact on a large number of students.
“You are 47 petitioners, but overall, how many students are there?” When informed that nearly nine lakh candidates are set to take the exam, the court made it clear that it cannot leave the fate of lakhs of candidates in the lurch because of a petition before it.
In its order, the bench summarised the situation, stating: “The UGC NET was conducted on June 18, 2024, but the Union government cancelled the exam on June 19. As a consequence, a fresh exam is scheduled for August 21. The petitioners have challenged the decision nearly two months later. Entertaining the petition at this stage would only add uncertainty and result in utter chaos.”
The CJI further highlighted the context of recent controversies surrounding the NEET-UG 2024 exam, which was similarly marred by allegations of paper leaks and other malpractices. He noted that the government, likely wary of repeating the issues seen with NEET, took a cautious approach by cancelling the UGC NET and rescheduling it.
“The government was aware of the problems with NEET, and they would have wanted a foolproof exam… let the process go on now” justice Chandrachud remarked.
The education ministry had on June 19 cancelled the UGC-NET examination and said the integrity of the process may have been compromised.
The June edition of the exam was held on June 18 with 908, 580 candidates appearing at 1,200 centres, taking the test 83 subjects using pen and paper on OMR sheets. But 24 hours later, the ministry said that UGC, India’s higher education regulator, received certain inputs from the National Cyber Crime Threat Analytics Unit of Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the home ministry on the examination.
Last week, the Supreme Court refused to postpone or reschedule the NEET-PG 2024 exam, scheduled for August 11, asserting the importance of maintaining certainty in the medical education system in the country.
Rejecting the plea brought forward by a small group of candidates, the CJI-led bench had on August 9 underscored the potential adverse impact on the careers of nearly two lakh students if the exam were to be rescheduled.
The spate of petitions in the top court has followed a recent challenge to the NEET-UG 2024 exam which was marred by accusations of paper leaks and other malpractices.
In that case, the same bench refused to cancel the exam, holding that there was no systemic breach, and that the leakage was confined to an identifiable set of students who could be segregated from the genuine candidates. Despite rejecting the plea to cancel the exam, the top court had pulled up the National Testing Agency (NTA) for mishandling the exam and suggested a slew of reforms to prevent such incidents in the future.
