The Centre informed the Supreme Court on Friday that scrapping the NEET-UG, 2024 exam completely would “seriously jeopardise” lakhs of deserving applicants and be irrational in the lack of evidence of a widespread breach of confidentiality. The National Testing Agency (NTA) administered the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) on May 5 for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH, and other related courses. Alleged irregularities, such as question paper leaks, have caused a great deal of controversy nationwide and have sparked multiple court filings, mass protests, and political squabbles.

The Union Ministry of Education responded to the pleas that called for the controversial exam to be scrapped, a re-test, and a court-monitored investigation, stating that there was no evidence of a widespread breach of confidentiality in the test, which was taken by over 23 lakh candidates at 4,750 locations in 571 cities.

“It is also submitted that at the same time, in the absence of any proof of any large-scale breach of confidentiality in a pan-India examination, it would not be rational to scrap the entire examination and the results already declared,” the Institute stated. It stated that there are competing rights in every exam and that the interests of many students who take the test honestly should not be compromised.

“Scrapping the exam in entirety would seriously jeopardise the lakhs of honest candidates who attempted the question paper in 2024,” the affidavit said. It said the Centre was committed to protecting the interests of lakhs of students who have attempted the question papers fairly and after years of hardwork, without trying to obtain any illegal advantage.

“Therefore, while genuine concerns based on proven facts must be addressed, other prayers merely based on conjectures and surmises, without any basis in fact, must be rejected so as not to cause unnecessary suffering and distress to honest examinees and their families,” it said.

The affidavit said there have been some alleged instances of irregularities, cheating, impersonation and malpractices during the exam, and premier investigation agency CBI has been asked to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the entire gamut of alleged irregularities.

“CBI has taken over the cases registered in different states after being transferred to it by the concerned state governments and is undertaking the investigation,” the affidavit said. It said the Ministry of Education has constituted a high-level committee of experts to suggest effective measures for conducting transparent, smooth and fair examinations by the National Testing Agency.

The affidavit said the panel shall make recommendations on reforms in the mechanism of the examination process, improvement in data security protocols and structure, and functioning of the National Testing Agency.

“It is respectfully submitted that the government is committed to ensure the sanctity of examinations and protect the interest of students. To ensure transparency, fairness, and credibility in public examination, Parliament has enacted Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 on February 12, 2024,” it said.

The affidavit said the Act was brought into effect on June 21, 2024 and provides for stringent punishment for offences related to unfair means in public examinations. It said the Centre is not taking the litigation in an adversarial manner and fully appreciates the concerns of candidates who have taken the NEET-UG 2024 examination.

“It is further submitted that the Union of India, in a matter such as the present one, has adopted a solution-oriented approach,” it said, adding the government is committed to conducting all competitive examinations in a fair and transparent manner.

“The Union of India duly appreciates that the confidentiality of the question papers is the utmost priority in any examination and that if due to some criminality at the behest of some criminal elements, the confidentiality has been breached, the Union of India submits that the said person must be dealt sternly and with the full force of law to ensure that they are punished,” the affidavit said.

The top court is scheduled to hear on July 8 a batch of pleas, including those alleging irregularities in the examination held on May 5 and seeking a direction that it be held afresh. The Centre and the NTA had told the court on June 13 that they had cancelled the grace marks awarded to 1,563 candidates. They were given the option to either take a re-test or forgo the compensatory marks awarded for loss of time.

The NTA announced the revised rank list on July 1 after issuing the results of the re-test held on June 23. A total of 67 students had scored a perfect 720, unprecedented in the NTA’s history, with six from a Haryana centre figuring in the list, raising suspicions about irregularities in the examination. It was alleged that grace marks contributed to 67 students sharing the top rank.

The number of candidates sharing the top rank came down to 61 from 67 when the NTA announced the revised results on July 1.