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'While not everyone may be pleased with a NEET retest judgment, it would restore fairness and integrity to the process, giving all students an equal opportunity based on merit.'
'This decision would correct the injustices faced by deserving students who were disadvantaged by the initial compromised exam.'
One of the petitioners to the NEET-retest matter pending in the apex court, Shwetank Sailakwal, advocate-on-record, Supreme Court, on behalf of the Students Islamic Organisation, that mentors over 10 lakh students for various competitive exams every year, tells Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com why he filed his very first public interest litigation in his 16-year career as an advocate and what exactly is he, and many other petitioners in the case, fighting for and what is the main objective of his PIL.
"Wealthy and influential students benefit the most from rigged NEET exams, gaining admission to top medical colleges through fraudulent means. The biggest losers are hardworking, deserving students from less privileged backgrounds, who are unfairly denied opportunities despite their sincere efforts," he says.
The matter which was adjourned on July 11 will come up for hearing on July 18.
What was the main reasons the Supreme Court adjourned the hearing and by when do you think will the court give its verdict on this issue?
The court did not convene post-lunch due to other commitments (on July 11), resulting in the adjournment of the matter. Tomorrow (July 12) was initially set for continuation, but some counsels stated they had not received the Union government and NTA's (National Testing Agency, which conducts the NEET exam) response due to technical issues.
The CBI has submitted a status report as directed by the Supreme Court.
Are the petitioners in possession of that special report of the CBI or is it only meant for the Supreme Court?
We requested the apex court for a copy to be served upon us, but the court said they will look into it on the date of the next hearing only, which is now July 18.
Could you tell us what's your locus standi in this case? On whose behalf did you file this petition?
The Student Islamic Organisation (SIO), which mentors nearly one million students each year for various competitive exams in India, was approached by their students to address the issue of the NEET retest and hence the office bearers of the SIO approached me through a reference.
The SIO mentors almost 10 lakh (one million) students every year who prepare for various competitive exams in India.
Why did you take up this case? Why are you fighting for the students?
As a visiting faculty at the Symbiosis Law School for the past six to seven years, I've witnessed firsthand the struggles and frustrations of my students. When they shared their experiences with me, I felt their pain and anguish deeply.
This is the first Public Interest Litigation I've filed in my 16-year career as an advocate. I've seen the injustice where students who prepared diligently for the NEET exam lost opportunities to those who used fraudulent means to succeed.
This denies genuine candidates their rightful place in top medical colleges. When a poor student is selected, it's celebrated in the mainstream media, inspiring many others to strive for success. However, now these deserving students face an unfair disadvantage, as wealth and influence are misused to take away their rightful seats in MBBS programmes.
Who benefits the most out of these rigged NEET exam and who are the biggest losers in this fiasco?
Wealthy and influential students benefit the most from rigged NEET exams, gaining admission to top medical colleges through fraudulent means.
The biggest losers are hardworking, deserving students from less privileged backgrounds, who are unfairly denied opportunities despite their sincere efforts.
Thousands of students feel disadvantaged compared to the 1,563 students who benefited from rigged NEET exams. Some students from Meghalaya have petitioned the Supreme Court to keep the issue alive.
The Court has ruled that only these 1,563 students, including six who scored perfect marks, will retake the test which was first conducted by the NTA on May 5, 2024.
What are the most important issues in your petition on which you want the Supreme Court to give its decision on?
Our main prayer is for a retest of NEET for all 23.3 lakh students who took the exam on May 5, 2024. Many hardworking students feel disadvantaged by those who had access to the question paper.
While the issue of grace marks is secondary, we are highlighting it and other (alleged) anomalies (in the conduct of exam and evaluation of NEET results) to the Supreme Court to support our case.
The NTA's handling of the exam has revealed multiple faults at various levels.
Who is to be blamed for this NEET fiasco and how did it start and how did it proceed so far?
The primary blame for the NEET fiasco lies with the NTA for failing to secure the exam process. The issue began with reports of question paper leaks and fraudulent practices, allowing wealthy students to gain an unfair advantage.
Despite initial complaints, only 1,563 students have been ordered to retake the exam, leaving the broader issue unresolved. We advocate for a complete retest to ensure fairness for all 23.3 lakh students affected by these irregularities.
The NTA should be held accountable for the NEET fiasco due to their failure to ensure exam security and integrity. Their negligence enabled fraudulent activities, disadvantaging genuine candidates and undermining the fairness of the selection process.
Who should take responsibility and why?
The main person, the chairman of the NTA (Professor Pradeep Kumar Joshi) should take responsibility because he is the one who was responsible for all these things.
If the Supreme Court gives its verdict in favour of a retest for all 23.33 lakh students, who appeared for test on May 5, then what kind of challenges would that throw? Will everybody be happy with that judgment?
If the Supreme Court orders a retest for all 23.33 lakh students, it will present logistical and administrative challenges, including organising the exam and ensuring security measures.
While not everyone may be pleased with a NEET retest judgment, it would restore fairness and integrity to the process, giving all students an equal opportunity based on merit. This decision would correct the injustices faced by deserving students who were disadvantaged by the initial compromised exam.
Who will be the biggest gainers and losers if there is a NEET retest?
The biggest gainers will be those students who have worked very hard to excel in NEET through fair means.
I received this message from various students who have approached me saying that in this year's NEET result students scoring marks in the Golden Range -- scores between 620 and 720 -- have increased four-fold compared to earlier years. This is very unusual and unrealistic.
Who are these beneficiaries who got scores in this Golden Range because of the paper leak needs to be investigated and that puts the other students at a huge disadvantage.
Our fight is against those people only who got into this medical examination through unfair means and passed their exam through unfair practice. If there's a re-NEET these students will be the biggest losers but fairly so.
It is quite possible that during retest of NEET all the students who scored marks in this Golden Range because they used unfair means would fail to do so again and all those who worked hard would get the opportunity to become eligible for admissions to government medical colleges.
There are about 67 students who scored 720 out of 720 and six of these students have already given the retest on June 23.
These 67 students would easily get admissions into government medical colleges and if they have got these marks by fraud then it is like denying 67 meritorious students, who could perhaps come from poor economic background, who have worked sincerely, admissions into these government colleges.