NEW DELHI, May 29:
We should not disappoint our youngsters, the Supreme Court on Friday said while stressing that the real problem relating to medical entrance examination NEET-UG would not stop till “actual accountability arises”.
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Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the Apex Court that the Government is seriously concerned about the concerns of the youths and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is personally supervising the situation so that “there is no lacunae”.
Mehta told a bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe that some new mechanisms have been put in place for the NEET-UG retest scheduled for June 21.
“The real problem won’t stop till actual accountability arises,” the bench observed.
The top court was hearing pleas, including the one seeking a direction to replace or restructure the National Testing Agency (NTA), which is responsible for conducting the NEET-UG, with a robust and autonomous body to conduct the medical entrance examination.
The bench said it is “actually very traumatic” if something like this happens, not just for the students, but also for their families.
“Accountability will be effective only when you know on whose shoulders, which individual shoulders, the responsibility lies,” it said.
The top law officer said, “The buck must stop somewhere”.
Mehta said the issue relates to youths and the Government is seriously concerned about their concerns.
“Some new mechanisms are also put in place for the June 21 examination. It may not be appropriate to divulge what is there, otherwise the very purpose will be frustrated. It is being monitored at the highest possible executive level,” he said.
“The Prime Minister personally is supervising this so that there is no lacunae,” Mehta said.
The bench cited the example of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and said there was never a situation like paper leak in the examinations conducted by the commission and the NTA needs to learn from other institutions.
“It is actually very traumatic if something like this happens, not just for the students, but also their families and everybody,” the bench said, adding, “They invest so much of emotion”.
The bench also highlighted the problem that most of the institutions were ad-hoc.
“So much so, that you will have the best of the officers working and everybody will depend on that. It is the phenomenon everywhere in our country,” it said.
“It is not the individual who has the capability, it is the institution which has the capability. That is what you need to prepare,” the bench said.
It noted that pursuant to its May 25 order, Director (Legal) of the NTA has filed an affidavit.
“We will go through your affidavit and we will keep monitoring it for sometime,” the bench said. (PTI)
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