The Supreme Court on Monday extended by two weeks the time
granted to the Centre-appointed seven-member expert panel to file its report on
exam reforms after reviewing the National Testing Agency's functioning in
holding the NEET-UG.
The top court on August 2 had passed its formal order and
expanded the remit of the seven-member expert panel, headed by former Indian
Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief K Radhakrishnan, to review the
functioning of the National Testing Agency (NTA) and recommend exam reforms to
make the controversy-ridden NEET-UG (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test
Undergraduate), transparent and free from malpractices.
The NEET-UG is conducted by the NTA for admission in
undergraduate medical programs.
The top court had also refused to annul the NEET-UG
of 2024, saying there was no sufficient material on record at present to
indicate a systemic leak or malpractice compromising the integrity of the
examination.
On Monday, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing
for the Centre, told a bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud that the
deadline for filing the report of the expert committee was ending and sought
two-week extension.
The bench, also comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and
Manoj Misra, took note of the fact that the report of the panel was almost
complete and granted two more weeks for filing the same.
While expanding the scope of the expert panel, the
top court had flagged multiple lapses on the part of NTA like the security
breach at an examination centre in Jharkhand's Hazaribagh where the rear door
of the strongroom was opened and unauthorised people were permitted to access
question papers, transportation of question papers by e-rickshaws and distribution
of wrong set of question papers among the candidates.
Besides Radhakrishnan,
other members of the expert committee are Randeep Guleria, B J Rao, Ramamurthy
K, Pankaj Bansal, Aditya Mittal and Govind Jaiswal.
The bench said the remit of the committee, in
addition to the tasks that it has been entrusted with by the union government
and the NTA, shall encompass examination security and administration, data
security and technological enhancements.
Its responsibilities will also include policy and stakeholder engagement,
collaboration and international cooperation, and recommendations for providing
mental health support to students and training of NTA staff, it had said.
Over 23 lakh students took up the NEET-UG in 2024
for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses.