Will monitor steps taken to curb NEET paper leaks, Centre says strict measures being taken

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday told the Centre that it will closely monitor the steps taken to curb NEET examination paper leaks, while underlining that ad hocism has caused trouble for years.

A bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe, which was hearing a batch of petitions, including one by the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA), told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the government should indicate the steps taken towards transparency, implementation of recommendations of the Radhakrishnan Committee, and how the IIT model would be followed.

Mehta said there are some developments and the government will file a detailed report, which may be beyond the recommendations of the Radhakrishnan Committee.

"Students' futures can't be jeopardised. We are going beyond the Radhakrishnan Committee. I assure you that the government is walking 10 extra miles. I can assure you everything is being supervised at the highest level," Mehta submitted.

He added that two years back, a similar issue arose and right from printing to transportation, everything was explained to the court.

The bench said that the government deployed the Airforce to transport question papers for the NEET-UG retest, but all these measures are ad hoc.

"Ad hocism has troubled us for years," Justice Narasimha said, while pointing out that the court will ensure that institutionalisation of the examination process takes place," it said.

Advocate Tanvi Dubey, appearing for FAIMA, sought a detailed blueprint of the SOP concerning the computer-based test (CBT) model that will be implemented by the National Testing Agency for the NEET-UG examination from next year.