Editor's Pick | Supreme Court asks government to overhaul NEET-UG on a deadline

The Supreme Court on Friday pronounced a scathing judgment calling out the “flip-flops” of the National Testing Agency (NTA) in the conduct of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test, 2024 for admission to undergraduate medical courses, and put the government on a deadline to completely restructure the exam process. “The manner in which NTA organised the exam this year gives rise to serious concerns... NTA has sufficient resources at its disposal. It has adequate funding, time, and opportunities to organise exams such as the NEET without lapses of the kind that occurred this year,” Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, who authored the verdict, criticised the agency. The three-judge Bench, headed by the Chief Justice, directed the Centre, acting through its high-powered committee headed by former Indian Space Research Organisation Chairperson K. Radhakrishnan, to recommend and implement top-to-bottom overhauling of the test process, including rectifying “serious security lapses”, and introducing data protection measures, periodic audits, surprise inspections of test centres, grievance redress mechanisms for students and foolproof logistics while specifically highlighting how question papers were transported in e-rickshaws for the May 5 test. The court directed the Radhakrishnan committee to submit its report to the Education Ministry by September 30. The Ministry has to take a decision on the committee’s recommendations within a month thereafter and implement the plan of action. The government has to file a compliance report in the court. The court pointed to how NTA initially gave 1,563 students grace marks after realising that they were allotted the wrong question paper, and then later decided to withdraw their scores and conduct a re-test. “A body such as NTA which is entrusted with immense responsibility in relation to highly important competitive exams cannot afford to misstep, take an incorrect decision, and amend it at a later stage. Flip-flops are an anathema to fairness,” the court chastised the agency. The Chief Justice said the mishaps orchestrated by the NTA was a “luxury students cannot afford”. Chief Justice Chandrachud said “the Centre has to restructure the whole process of the NEET through the high-powered committee. It has to ensure that we do not have further such examples in the future.” In the judgment, the court pointed to varying versions given by the NTA about when and where the question papers were breached, including that it was taken away by people who had breached the “rear door” of an exam centre. The judgment referred to the NTA’s decision to grant marks for two options to a physics question in the NEET paper, reasoning that both answers were right. An Indian Institute of Technology (Delhi) team, on a request from the Supreme Court, later reported that only one of the two answers was correct. “As a result of the NTA’s grace marks, an unprecedented 44 students got 720/720 in NEET-UG. The IIT(Delhi) report saw these 44 students lose marks and a revision of the rank list… There are deficiencies in the structural processes of the NTA… This committee [Radhakrishnan panel] must rectify them,” Chief Justice Chandrachud noted. Even while refusing to scrap NEET-UG 2024 on the ground that there was no “systemic breach”, a series of directions issued by the apex court to the government’s committee in the judgment highlight and spell out every single concern raised by petitioners about the security of the exam process in over 40 separate petitions. Meanwhile, counselling for eligible NEET(UG) students will start from August 14. The CBI has so far arrested 40 people, including several medical students, for their alleged involvement in the racket. The CBI has filed the first chargesheet against 13 accused. In an editorial, The Hindu rued the fact that an extraordinary emphasis has come to be placed on medicine as a career choice, with over 23 lakh students hoping to compete for over one lakh MBBS seats. This will have to be dialled down, it noted, with a healthy promotion of other scientific streams as viable career options. The government also must reorient all systems “so that the next NEET can be conducted professionally, and with adequate safeguards in place to prevent malpractice or inefficiency.” The Hindu’s Editorials ​Weakest first: On judiciary and sub-categorisation within a class Stealing the vote: On the Venezuelan presidential election The Hindu’s Daily Quiz Who is the coach of the Indian pistol shooting contingent at the Olympics? Munkhbayor Dorjsuren Satpal Singh Craig Fulton Massimo Costantini To know the answer and to play the full quiz, click here. [logo] Editor's Pick 03 August 2024 [The Hindu logo] [EP Logo] Editor's Pick 03 August 2024 In the Editor's Pick newsletter, The Hindu explains why a story was important enough to be carried on the front page of today's edition of our newspaper. [View in browser]( [More newsletters]( Supreme Court asks government to overhaul NEET-UG on a deadline The [Supreme Court on Friday pronounced a scathing judgment]( calling out the “flip-flops” of the National Testing Agency (NTA) in the conduct of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test, 2024 for admission to undergraduate medical courses, and put the government on a deadline to completely restructure the exam process. “The manner in which NTA organised the exam this year gives rise to serious concerns... NTA has sufficient resources at its disposal. It has adequate funding, time, and opportunities to organise exams such as the NEET without lapses of the kind that occurred this year,” Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, who authored the verdict, criticised the agency. The three-judge Bench, headed by the Chief Justice, directed the Centre, acting through its high-powered committee headed by former Indian Space Research Organisation Chairperson K. Radhakrishnan, to recommend and implement top-to-bottom overhauling of the test process, including rectifying “serious security lapses”, and introducing data protection measures, periodic audits, surprise inspections of test centres, grievance redress mechanisms for students and foolproof logistics while specifically highlighting how question papers were transported in e-rickshaws for the May 5 test. The court directed the Radhakrishnan committee to submit its report to the Education Ministry by September 30. The Ministry has to take a decision on the committee’s recommendations within a month thereafter and implement the plan of action. The government has to file a compliance report in the court. The court pointed to how NTA initially gave 1,563 students grace marks after realising that they were allotted the wrong question paper, and then later decided to withdraw their scores and conduct a re-test. “A body such as NTA which is entrusted with immense responsibility in relation to highly important competitive exams cannot afford to misstep, take an incorrect decision, and amend it at a later stage. Flip-flops are an anathema to fairness,” the court chastised the agency. The Chief Justice said the mishaps orchestrated by the NTA was a “luxury students cannot afford”. Chief Justice Chandrachud said “the Centre has to restructure the whole process of the NEET through the high-powered committee. It has to ensure that we do not have further such examples in the future.” In the judgment, the court pointed to varying versions given by the NTA about when and where the question papers were breached, including that it was taken away by people who had breached the “rear door” of an exam centre. The judgment referred to the NTA’s decision to grant marks for two options to a physics question in the NEET paper, reasoning that both answers were right. An Indian Institute of Technology (Delhi) team, on a request from the Supreme Court, later reported that only one of the two answers was correct. “As a result of the NTA’s grace marks, an unprecedented 44 students got 720/720 in NEET-UG. The IIT(Delhi) report saw these 44 students lose marks and a revision of the rank list… There are deficiencies in the structural processes of the NTA… This committee [Radhakrishnan panel] must rectify them,” Chief Justice Chandrachud noted. Even while refusing to scrap NEET-UG 2024 on the ground that there was no “systemic breach”, a series of directions issued by the apex court to the government’s committee in the judgment highlight and spell out every single concern raised by petitioners about the security of the exam process in over 40 separate petitions. [Meanwhile, counselling for eligible NEET(UG) students will start from August 14](. The CBI has so far arrested 40 people, including several medical students, for their alleged involvement in the racket. [The CBI has filed the first chargesheet against 13 accused](. In an [editorial]( The Hindu rued the fact that an extraordinary emphasis has come to be placed on medicine as a career choice, with over 23 lakh students hoping to compete for over one lakh MBBS seats. This will have to be dialled down, it noted, with a healthy promotion of other scientific streams as viable career options. The government also must reorient all systems “so that the next NEET can be conducted professionally, and with adequate safeguards in place to prevent malpractice or inefficiency.” The Hindu’s Editorials [Arrow][​Weakest first: On judiciary and sub-categorisation within a class]( [Arrow][Stealing the vote: On the Venezuelan presidential election]( The Hindu’s Daily Quiz Who is the coach of the Indian pistol shooting contingent at the Olympics? - Munkhbayor Dorjsuren - Satpal Singh - Craig Fulton - Massimo Costantini To know the answer and to play the full quiz, [click here]( [Sign up for free]( Today’s Best Reads [[Citing The Hindu’s fact-check on Amit Shah’s speech, Congress moves privilege motion] Citing The Hindu’s fact-check on Amit Shah’s speech, Congress moves privilege motion]( [[Kamala Harris secures Democratic presidential nomination] Kamala Harris secures Democratic presidential nomination]( [[Searches continue amid fading hope in Wayanad] Searches continue amid fading hope in Wayanad]( [[Paris Olympics: Indian archers Dhiraj and Ankita make a bit of history despite finishing fourth] Paris Olympics: Indian archers Dhiraj and Ankita make a bit of history despite finishing fourth]( Copyright© 2024, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. 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