'Truth has prevailed': Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on SC's NEET-UG judgement

New Delhi: Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday hailed Supreme Court's judgement on NEET-UG and said that the apex court has upheld government's stand that there has not been any large scale breach.

Following the judgement, Pradhan said, "The truth has prevailed. We welcome the decision of the Supreme Court. We have been saying this from the beginning that our priority is students of this country. Government's priority has always been to see that there should be no tampering with students' future."

"From the last 2-2.5 months, the government's stand has been that there has not been any large-scale breach. Today, the Supreme Court has upheld that," he added.

Pradhan also assured that the government is committed to creating a transparent, tamper-free, and zero-error examination system.

"The exams that students take, whether for further studies or for jobs, must have zero tolerance for any kind of breach and fair examination is our top priority. Therefore, the Modi government has implemented strict laws like the Public Examination, Prevention of Unfair Means Act. We have also given assurances before the Supreme Court. The government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is committed to creating a transparent, tamper-free, and zero-error examination system."

"In line with this commitment, we recently announced a high-level committee for the comprehensive reform of the NDA. This committee, which includes esteemed members like Professor Dr Radhakrishnan, former chairman, and Dr Guleria, a renowned medical expert, is working diligently. Examination experts and data analytics experts are also part of this committee. They have gathered numerous expert opinions and studied various models," he added.

In a decision that will come as relief for lakhs of medical students, the Supreme Court said the 2024 NEET-UG exam will not be reconducted.

The apex court said that it realises that giving direction for a fresh NEET-UG for the present year would be replete with serious consequences for over 24 lakh students who appeared in this exam.

Major irregularities were discovered in the NEET-UG examination process and many petitioners had demanded that the test be reconducted.