Supreme Court defers NEET-UG reforms hearing to August 19 over Centre's affidavit

The Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned the hearing on petitions seeking structural reforms in the NEET-UG examination process to August 19 after taking note of the Centre's affidavit detailing the changes introduced by the National Testing Agency (NTA). The Bench said the affidavit is yet to be formally placed on record and indicated that its contents would be examined before hearing detailed arguments in the matter.

At the outset of the hearing, counsel informed the Bench that an affidavit had been filed by the Centre. The Court, however, observed that the affidavit was "not on record" at the time.

The Bench told the petitioners that there were "a lot of things" in the affidavit that would need to be considered and discussed. It asked the parties to go through the contents of the document in the meantime before the matter is taken up



again.

After the brief proceedings, the Supreme Court posted the matter for further hearing on August 19, when it is expected to examine the Centre's response in detail and hear arguments from all sides on the reforms proposed for the NEET-UG examination system.

The case concerns a batch of petitions seeking systemic reforms in the conduct of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG), which is administered by the National Testing Agency (NTA). The petitions call for changes aimed at strengthening the examination process and preventing irregularities.

Ahead of Thursday's hearing, the Centre filed an affidavit outlining the reforms it has undertaken following concerns over the integrity of the examination process. The affidavit is understood to cover measures relating to question paper security, examination protocols and other safeguards introduced by the NTA.