The Supreme Court on Monday made a strong remark while hearing scores of pleas linked to the NEET-UG examination case. The Bench headed by CJI Chandrachud said that it is certain that the leak has happened and the panel must investigate it. The apex court also said that the bench is only examining the extent of the leak. 

During the hearing when CJI said that it was certain that the leak had happened, the Solicitor General denied any leak. Additionally, on the counter-question of NTA's stand on leaks, the SG asserted that NTA too does not accept any possibility of the leak. To this CJI said that they were certain the leak had taken place. "Whether it is wide or at a small level we have to find out". the top court said. 

The three-judge bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said it therefore was loathe to order a re-test for nearly 24 lakh students - many of whom come from poor families and could ill-afford to spend money travelling to exam centres - unless necessary. A re-test is the "last option", it said.

"One thing is clear... questions were leaked. The sanctity of the exam has been compromised... this is beyond doubt. Now we have to establish the extent of the leak," the Chief Justice said, "We have to be careful while ordering a re-test. We are dealing with the careers of lakhs of students."

The court stressed a re-test could only be ordered if there was sufficient time (the court did not specify how much this should be) between the leak of the questions and conduct of the exam.