The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, June 11, refused to pass any interim direction to stay the admission counselling process to medical programmes pursuant to the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) (NEET-UG) 2024 examination. A vacation bench presided over by Justice Vikram Nath, however, sought a response from the National Testing Agency (NTA) and others on a plea seeking cancellation of the NEET UG examination held on May 5 this year.

“It is not so simple that because you have done it, it is sacrosanct. Sanctity has been affected, so we need answers. How much time do you want (for replying to the petition)? Immediately on the re-opening? Otherwise, the counselling will start. If you need more time, we will stop the counselling,” remarked the Bench, also comprising Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah.

In response, the counsel representing NTA submitted that a similar petition is coming up for hearing on July 8 before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud. At this, the apex court said, “We will have this matter on July 8. We will tag it with the pending petition. In the meantime, you [NTA] should file the reply.”

Earlier, the apex court had denied a stay on the declaration of the result of the NEET UG examination but had issued a notice to NTA and others in a similar matter. The plea filed by young aspiring students seeks directions for the conduct of an expeditious and thorough investigation of the “malpractices and fraud involved” in the NEET examination held on May 5 and a stay on declaration of results till the investigations on paper leak are completed.

Further, it sought directions to NTA to recall the results of the examination conducted on May 5 and conduct the examination afresh after issuing due public notice.