SC Seeks Petitioners’ Replies on Centre’s NEET Reform Affidavit

New Delhi, Aug 6: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked petitioners seeking reforms in the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the NEET-UG examination system to file their replies to the Centre’s affidavit, which said shifting NEET from pen-and-paper to computer-based mode is under active consideration.

A bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe directed the parties to submit their replies and suggestions and posted the matter for further hearing on August 19.

Appearing for the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA), advocate Tanvi Dubey said any proposed transition to a computer-based examination should be announced at the earliest as students were currently preparing for a pen-and-paper test.

The bench said it would consider all aspects after receiving the responses from the parties.

In its affidavit, the Centre said the migration of NEET-UG to a computer-based format, either as a single-stage examination or a two-stage test on the pattern of JEE (Main and Advanced), was being actively considered by all stakeholders.

It said the final decision would be taken after considering recommendations of a high-powered task force headed by Nandan Nilekani, comprising experts from technology, space, intelligence, academia and public administration.

The Centre also informed the court that it had undertaken a comprehensive overhaul of NEET’s examination process to prevent paper leaks and systemic failures.

The affidavit was filed in response to the Supreme Court’s May 29 direction seeking details on the conduct of future NEET examinations and measures to strengthen examination systems.

One of the petitions has sought restructuring or replacement of the NTA with a robust and autonomous body for conducting NEET-UG.

NEET-UG was cancelled on May 12 amid paper-leak allegations and a retest was conducted on June 21. The alleged leak is being investigated by the CBI. (Agencies)