SC 'no' to urgent hearing on plea to conduct NEET afresh

New Delhi: The Supreme Court today refused to grant an urgent hearing on a plea seeking to conduct afresh the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) examination for admission to MBBS and BDS courses for the current academic year.

The plea, which was mentioned before a vacation bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Navin Sinha, sought a direction to conduct the NEET exam again alleging that the exam papers were leaked in Bihar and also circulated in states like Rajasthan and West Bengal.

The plea was mentioned in the apex court a day after the Madras High Court granted interim stay on the publication of the results of NEET 2017 across the country.

Over 11 lakh MBBS and BDS aspirants had appeared for the NEET this year at more than 1,900 centres across the country on May 7.

The apex court was told that it should also stay the declaration of the results of the NEET 2017 examination.

However, the bench said there was no urgency to hear the plea as the Madras High Court had already granted an interim stay on the publication of the results.

“Whatever reasons you are giving, the fact is that there is an interim stay. There is an interim stay on declaration of results. The stay might be on different grounds but results will not be declared,” the bench told the lawyer who mentioned the matter on behalf of a private trust.

“What is the urgency? There is already an interim stay.

You can mention the matter next week. We are not rejecting it now,” the bench said.

The Madras High Court had yesterday granted interim stay on the publication of the NEET result on a batch of pleas alleging that a uniform question paper was not given in the examination and there was a vast difference between the ones in English and in Tamil.

The high court had also directed the Medical Council of India, the director of Central Board of Secondary Education and the Union Health Ministry to file counter affidavits on these pleas on June 7.

The petitioners before the high court have demanded that the NEET 2017 be cancelled and a fresh exam with a uniform question paper be conducted.

They have claimed that different sets of question paper had been used at various places, though a common syllabus had been announced.

In Tamil Nadu, the question papers were different for those who opted English and Tamil and the one in Tamil was easier, they have claimed.