The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a retest for the NEET exam and said that there is a "systemic" breach of the sanctity of the examination. Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud observed that the CBI is still investigating the case, and the probe has revealed that the material emerging during investigation would indicate about 155 students drawn from the examination centres at Hazaribagh and Patna appear to be the beneficiaries of the fraud

"Fact that leak in NEET-UG 2024 took place at Hazaribagh and Patna is not in dispute," said SC.

"Following transfer of investigation to it, CBI has filed its status reports dated July 10, 2024; July 17, 2024 and July 21, 2024. The disclosures by the CBI indicate that the investigation is continuing. However, CBI has indicated that at the present stage, the material emerging during investigation would indicate about 155 students drawn from the examination centres at Hazaribagh and Patna appear to be the beneficiaries of the fraud," CJI Chandrachud noted, according to Bar and Bench.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra heard submissions from a battery of lawyers, including Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre and the National Testing Agency (NTA), and senior advocates Narender Hooda, Sanjay Hegde and Mathews Nedumapra for around four days.

Over 23 lakh students took up the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) in 2024 for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses.

That, the court said, will cause "disruption of admission schedule, cascading effects on the course of medical education, impact on availability of qualified medical professionals in the future and be seriously disadvantageous for the marginalised groups for whom reservation was made in allocation of seats."

The bench said ordering cancellation of the entire exam was not justified on application of "settled principles propounded by this court on the basis of material on record".

The bench dictated the operative part of the judgement keeping in mind the future of over two million students and said a detailed judgement will follow.

"There is absence of material to conclude that result of NEET-UG 2024 exam is vitiated or there is systemic breach," the CJI said.

(With agency inputs)