The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to stay the NEET-UG counselling sessions but assured that it would automatically stand quashed if the court allows a batch of petitions seeking cancellation of the exams because of allegations of question paper leak and widespread irregularities.

The apex court, however, stayed all proceedings before the high courts of Calcutta, Bombay and Rajasthan, and transferred to itself all the cases relating to this year’s National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate).

The bench passed the order on a transfer petition moved by the National Testing Agency (NTA) pleading that the batch of petitions in multiple high courts be heard by the apex court to avoid conflicting orders and ensure an authoritative pronouncement on the issue.

Initially, the bench was not inclined to stay the proceedings, as it noted that several students had raised individual grievances relating to answer sheets, marks obtained among other concerns, which could be addressed by the respective high courts.

However, after the NTA’s counsel persisted with the plea, the bench proceeded to stay the proceedings before the high court. The apex court, however, refused to entertain the plea of some petitioners for a stay of the counselling sessions pending adjudication of the batch of petitions.

“We are not staying the counselling…. All this has been argued from day one. They (various earlier petitioners) wanted stay of counselling; we have refused. Ultimately, if you all succeed, everything will go. The exam goes and the counselling will go,” a bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice S.V.N. Bhatti orally observed during the hearing on Thursday.

Lawyers pleaded for staying the counselling since the court was already seized of a batch of petitions seeking cancellation of the exams and a CBI probe into question paper leaks and grace marks awarded to 1,563 students.

The court also refused to entertain the request of some petitioners for the cancellation of the retest ordered by the NTA on June 23 for the 1,563 students, following the government’s decision to cancel the grace marks and instead hold fresh tests.

The court had earlier issued notice to the Centre and the NTA on petitions seeking a CBI probe into the alleged leak and various irregularities, including the grace marks given irrationally to 1,563 candidates that had since then been cancelled by the government after a public outcry.

The bench on Thursday also issued notice to the NTA and the Centre in response to the petition filed by a student from Meghalaya that candidates in the state lost about 45-50 minutes because of improper arrangements at a particular centre.