New Delhi, July 23(IANS): In a big blow to the litigants alleging irregularities in the NEET-UG 2024, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday that sufficient material was not available on record to order a re-test.

Referring to the data analytics undertaken by IIT Madras and other statistics placed on record, a bench presided over by CJI D.Y. Chandrachud observed that there was no systematic leak of question papers breaching the sanctity of the competitive exam.

The bench, also comprising Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said that it was mindful of the fact that directing fresh exam would be replete with serious consequences for over 2 million students who had appeared for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate) on May 5.

The apex court clarified that its judgment won’t prevent authorities from taking action against candidates who had secured admission using malpractices.

It also asked the National Testing Agency (NTA) to re-tally the marks afresh in view of the opinion rendered by the expert panel of IIT Delhi in respect of a contentious physics question, saying that two options cannot be treated as the correct answers to a question.

During the previous hearing, the SC had asked the Director of IIT Delhi to constitute a team of three experts to formulate its opinion on the correct option and remit its opinion to the registrar of the court by 12 noon on July 23.

During the hearing on pleas seeking cancellation of the NEET-UG, a petitioner pointed out that as many as 44 candidates were able to secure full marks on account of the ambiguous question, and questioned NTA's decision to award compensatory marks in violation of its own instructions asking students to follow the latest NCERT textbook.