NEET UG: What right does a coaching centre have to file a petition, SC asks Xylem Learning

SC on NEET UG 2024

The Supreme Court has questioned a Kerala firm, which coaches students for competitive examinations such as NEET through its app, for claiming violation of fundamental rights in its plea alleging discrepancies in the test for admission to medical colleges.

This year’s National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), the result of which was declared earlier this month, has triggered a wave of protests with aspirants alleging large-scale irregularities, including paper leak. Several petitions have been filed demanding the test be scrapped, with questions raised over the role of the National Testing Agency that conducts the exam.

"This is an Article 32 petition by an instance of a coaching centre. What fundamental right of yours is violated? You provide them coaching and your duty is discharged that is all," a vacation bench of justices Manoj Mishra and SVN Bhatti asked Xylem Learning on June 27.

Writ petitions are filed under Article 32 only when the fundamental right of an individual is violated by governmental actions.

Appearing for Xylem, senior advocate R Basant said some students didn’t get optical mark recognition (OMR) sheets on which answers are marked. The NTA denied the claim and said it provided OMR sheets to all. The court asked NTA to find out if there was a timeline to raise a grievance regarding the OMR sheets.

The agency agreed to get instructions and the case is now expected to come up for hearing on July 8 along with the other pleas on NEET.

When court questioned him about filing the plea under Article 32, Basant said three students who wrote NEET UG 2024, too, were a party to the petition and requested the court to club it with the petitions that were pending.

Questions have been raised over the 2024 NEET amid discrepancies in marking and claims of paper leak. As many as 67 students obtained a perfect score of 720, which is unheard of.

The NTA’s decision to award grace marks to 1,563 candidates who allegedly lost time after being handed the wrong question paper, too, came under fire, with the opposition demanding the resignation of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who is not even one month old in the job.

The grace marks were withdrawn as anger spread. Those who got the marks have been asked to sit the test again.

Petitions in the Supreme Court and several high courts have called for the test to be scrapped. Some have sought a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Earlier, Alakh Pandey, the CEO of the online coaching platform Physicswallah, had filed a plea but it was disposed of as the issue raised was addressed by the government.