Supreme Court to Address Petition for NBE to Disclose NEET (PG) Exam Papers and Answer Key
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Synopsis
On February 3, the Supreme Court will hear a petition urging the NBE to release the NEET (PG) question paper and answer key. The plea highlights issues of transparency and the right to access examination materials.
Key Takeaways
- Supreme Court scheduled to hear a plea on NEET (PG) transparency.
- The petition requests NBE to release exam materials.
- Concerns raised about score discrepancies in recent exams.
- NTA claims it is not a necessary party in the litigation.
- The RTI Act is invoked for access to answer sheets.
New Delhi, Feb 2 (NationPress) The Supreme Court is set to hear a plea on Monday that requests the National Board of Examinations (NBE) to disclose the question paper and answer key for the NEET (PG) examination.
According to the causelist available on the apex court's website, a bench comprising Justices BR Gavai and K Vinod Chandran will address the issue on February 3.
In June of the previous year, a vacation bench led by Justice Vikram Nath consented to look into the plea and sought responses from the NBE, Medical Counselling Committee (MCC), and other parties.
“Issue notice returnable on 8th of July, 2024. In the meantime, respondents may file their counter affidavits,” was the directive given. During the proceedings, the National Testing Agency (NTA) indicated that it was not a necessary participant in the case and could be removed from the list of parties.
“The PG (entrance exam) is administered by the National Board of Examinations,” the counsel for NTA stated.
Upon hearing the argument, Justice SVN Bhatti remarked, “You may record that. When we issue an order, we will exercise our discretion under Supreme Court rules and exclude you from the list of parties.”
The plea, which was submitted directly to the apex court, challenged the “arbitrary actions and decisions” of the NBE for not disclosing the question paper, answer key, and answer sheet for NEET-PG 2022. It also criticized the lack of options for re-evaluation of scores, despite the acknowledgment of “serious discrepancies” in candidates' scores for the NEET-PG 2021 and NEET-PG 2022 exams.
“There are no other competitive exams in India with such a lack of transparency and a completely one-sided flow of information as NEET-PG,” the plea, represented by advocate Charu Mathur, claimed. It pointed out that the NEET-UG conducted by NTA allows candidates to contest the answer keys, as do several other prominent examinations, including IIT-JEE, CMAT, CLAT, and judicial services tests.
However, the information bulletin for NEET-PG 2024 continues the trend from previous years by prohibiting requests for access to answer sheets and preventing the petitioner from exercising her constitutional and legitimate rights to access her answer sheets, even under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, the plea noted.
