The Supreme Court on Thursday (July 18) directed the National Testing Agency (NTA) to release the result of all candidates who appeared for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2024 on May 5.
“We direct the NTA to publish the marks obtained by students at the UG-2024 NEET examination, while, at the same time, without disclosing the identity of the students. The result should be declared city and centre-wise by noon on 20 July 2024 and shall be uploaded on the website of the NTA,” a three-judge bench presided by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud ordered.
The bench comprised CJI D Y Chandrachud, Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra. While the top court will continue the hearing on Monday, July 22, the Bench has given NTA a deadline of noon on July 20 to upload the results of all NEET UG candidates.
Upon hearing the direction, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta argued that while the results can be published, doing so centre-wise is riddled with problems. ‘There are coaching centres, there are several problems,” he told the bench. However, the CJI insisted that the centre names were important. “No…let it be done. We have to see the end of the matter by Monday. The reason why we were engaging in a detailed line of enquiry is the fact that there was a leak at least in Patna and Hazaribagh… the question papers had been disseminated before the exam, that’s undoubted,’ said CJI Chandrachud.
This direction was passed after Adv Hooda, appearing for the lead petitioners, submitted that the candidates are at a “handicap” since neither the CBI status report is shared with them nor the entire results have been published.