The Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned hearing a batch of petitions alleging irregularities and malpractices in the conduct of the medical entrance exam NEET-UG 2024. The case will now be heard on July 18.

A bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud postponed the hearing at the request of the petitioners’ lawyers, who sought more time to review the affidavits submitted by the Centre and the National Testing Agency (NTA), the body responsible for conducting the exam.

On Monday, the apex court acknowledged that a paper leak had occurred, saying it was “beyond question.” However, it stressed that canceling the exam entirely should be considered only as an “extreme last resort,” given the impact on 2.3 million candidates.

In its affidavit submitted on Wednesday, the Centre asserted that there was no evidence of “mass malpractice” or localised groups of candidates benefitting from the NEET-UG 2024 exam. This claim was based on a data analytics report from the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras. In another affdavit, the NTA rejected the petitioners’ allegations that 67 candidates scored perfect marks, calling them “fallacious and incorrect.”

The Supreme Court was informed that the counselling process for the NEET-UG exam, which has been marred by controversy, will be conducted in four rounds starting from the third week of July. As per the Centre’s 44-page affidavit, the candidature of any student found to have benefited from malpractice can be canceled at any stage of the counselling process or even afterward.

The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG), conducted by the NTA, is the entrance exam for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH, and other related courses in government and private institutions across India.