The Supreme Court on Monday directed IIT Delhi to constitute a three-member panel of experts to give an opinion on the correct answer for a physics question in the NEET-UG 2024 examination marred by paper leaks and other irregularities.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud also said the paper leak occurred on May 4, a day before the exams were held.
The bench formed the opinion that the leak occurred on May 4 as per the findings recorded by the economic offences wing of the Bihar police which conducted the preliminary inquiry before the CBI took over the probe.
The findings also dispel the official claim that the leak occurred a few hours before the exam.
The bench, which included Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra, in an order on Monday asked the IIT Delhi director to constitute the panel to give its opinion on the right answer to a physics question, which had sent the students into a tizzy because of multiple correct answers offered by the National Testing Agency (NTA) based on two NCERT editions.
"The expert team constituted by the director is requested to formulate the opinion on the correct option and remit the opinion to the registrar by 12 noon tomorrow (Tuesday). The registrar-general is requested to communicate the order to the IIT Delhi director so that expeditious steps for the preparation of the opinion can be taken," the court said while adjourning the matter for further hearing to Tuesday.
The bench was dealing with a batch of PILs seeking cancellation of the exams and a retest on account of various irregularities. However, a section of students has also filed separate petitions opposing retest and instead wanted only the tainted candidates to be weeded out from admission to this year’s MBBS and BDS courses.
Out of 50 centres across India which have students with over 650 marks, 38 students hail from Sikar in Rajasthan. During the hearing, the CJI told the counsel that to justify the demand for the cancellation of the exam, the petitioners must establish that there were widespread leaks of the question paper.
