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New Delhi: In a significant development on Friday, the Supreme Court rejected a batch of pleases seeking a court-monitored investigation into the electoral bonds scheme that were introduced by the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The top court said it cannot order a roving inquiry into purchase of electoral bonds on the assumption that it was quid pro quo for award of contract.
The Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala said it would be inappropriate and premature to intervene at this stage under Article 32 of the constitution.
“The court entertained petitions challenging electoral bonds since there was an aspect of judicial review. But the cases involving criminal wrongdoing should not be under Article 32 when there are remedies available under the law,” the bench said.
The top court was hearing pleas filed by NGOs — Common Cause and the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) and others. The PIL of the two NGOs alleges an “apparent quid pro quo” between political parties, corporations, and investigative agencies under the garb of the scheme.
Declining to order a re-test, the Supreme Court on Friday reiterated that there was no systemic breach of the NEET-UG 2024 exam except in Patna and Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh.
A bench headed by CJI Chandrachud deprecated the National Testing Agency (NTA) to award compensatory marks to 1,563 students on account of loss of time, which was later recalled after several petitions were filed before the top court. Later, these candidates were given the option to appear in a re-test or to appear in counselling on the basis of actual marks obtained in the exam without normalisation.
“We have said that NTA must now avoid flip-flops it made in this case as it does not serve the interests of students,” observed the Bench, also comprising Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.
Referring to NTA’s decision to treat two options as the correct answers to a question, the apex court remarked that as many as 44 candidates were able to secure full marks on account of the ambiguous question. It asked the NTA to re-tally the marks afresh in view of the opinion rendered by the expert panel of IIT Delhi in respect of a contentious physics question.
(With inputs from agencies)
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