NEET 2024 row: Supreme Court again refuses to stay counselling process, sends notice to NTA

NEET 2024 row: The Supreme Court refused yet again, on Friday, June 21, to stay the process of NEET-UG 2024 counselling while issuing a notice to the National Testing Agency (NTA), newswire ANI reported.

The top court tagged the fresh pleas and pending petitions and posted them for hearing on July 8.

On Thursday, June 20, the apex court stayed proceedings before three high courts hearing petitions challenging the conduct of the National Eligibility Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2024 and seeking an independent probe into alleged malpractices involving a paper leak and award of grace marks.

A vacation bench of Justices Vikram Nath and SVN Bhatti presided over the controversial NEET-UG 2024 result. It issued notice on four transfer petitions submitted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) and 11 other petitions that raised similar concerns.

Meanwhile, Delhi Congress workers protested near the BJP headquarters over allegations of question paper leaks in states such as Bihar and other irregularities in the NEET-UG 2024 examinations. Delhi Congress president Devender Yadav led the demonstration.

The NTA conducted the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) or NEET-UG (medical entrance examination) on May 5 and announced the results on June 4. Around 24 lakh students appeared for the exam, which is making headlines over allegations of question paper leaks and irregularities.

As many as 67 students secured All-India Rank 1, unprecedented in NTA's history. Since then, there have been concerns regarding the integrity of the exam amid reports of paper leaks and distribution of grace marks.

Following the declaration of the result, protests were held across India in various cities over the NEET question paper leak, and several petitions were filed in high courts and the Supreme Court.

The police have apprehended four persons in the case so far including Anurag Yadav, Nitish Kumar, Amit Anand, and Sikandar Prasad Yadvendu.

Anurag Yadav has confessed to his involvement in the NEET exam question paper leak case.

All those involved in the NEET scandal are aspiring candidates except Sikandar Yadavendu, who serves as an engineer at Bihar's Danapur Town Council (Danapur Nagar Parishad) and happens to be Anurag Yadav's uncle

(With agency inputs)