Last Updated:
The plea argues that the NTA’s blanket cancellation represents an ‘arbitrary and disproportionate’ response that violates the fundamental rights of nearly 22 lakh candidates
The Centre has told the Supreme Court that the NEET-UG paper leak case was being closely monitored at the highest levels of the government. (File pic: PTI)
The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to grant an urgent hearing on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the National Testing Agency’s (NTA) decision to execute a blanket cancellation of the NEET-UG 2026 examination. Mentioned for urgent listing before a vacation bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, the apex court ruled that the plea would instead be deferred to July, effectively clearing the legal runway for the highly contested nationwide re-examination to proceed as scheduled on June 21.
The bench observed that related petitions concerning the contentious medical entrance exam are already being systematically considered by an alternative bench led by Justice PS Narasimha. Consequently, the vacation court directed that the fresh legal challenge be tagged with the main batch of pending matters for a comprehensive review once regular sittings resume next month. The judicial refusal to freeze the re-examination process provides immediate operational clarity to administrative bodies, even as it leaves millions of medical aspirants facing imminent re-testing under severe time constraints.
“Matters concerning the NEET-UG 2026 examination are already actively being considered by another designated bench. This fresh petition will similarly be listed before that same bench in July,” the court said.
PIL Flags Severe Hardship Facing Innocent Candidates
The deferred PIL, moved by Dr Mangala Kohli, former Assistant Director General of Health Services, through Advocate-on-Record Abhishek Chandra Mishra, fiercely questions the rationale behind the total scrapping of the original May 3 test. The petition argues that the NTA’s blanket cancellation represents an “arbitrary and disproportionate” response that violates the fundamental rights of nearly 22 lakh candidates. The plea asserts that findings emerging from ongoing Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probes point strictly toward a localised operational compromise managed by specific organised networks, rather than any nationwide contamination of the examination matrix.
According to the petition, forcing overwhelmingly bona fide and meritorious students—the vast majority of whom have no connection whatsoever to the alleged malpractices—to undergo the intense emotional and academic rigour of a national-level competitive exam a second time is profoundly unfair. The legal challenge highlights that the blanket order has inflicted severe academic, financial, and mental hardship on families, while heavily disrupting the country’s broader medical admissions calendar due to systemic institutional and administrative lapses.
Advanced Logistics and Unprecedented Security Deployments for June 21
With the Supreme Court refusing to intervene, the central government has mobilised unprecedented administrative resources to ensure the absolute integrity of the June 21 pen-and-paper retest. To eliminate the logistical vulnerabilities that compromised the original May examination, the NTA has partnered with the Indian Air Force to securely transport question papers across compressed operational timelines, executing the entire nationwide re-conduct within 37 days of the initial cancellation.
Furthermore, NTA Director General Abhishek Singh confirmed that extensive security reforms have been deployed, including Aadhaar-based biometric authentication, AI-powered CCTV surveillance, and a temporary countrywide suspension of the Telegram application to block the circulation of fake papers. While the apex court had earlier shot down political demands to hastily convert the upcoming retest into a computer-based format due to immediate logistical barriers, the judiciary’s broader July review is expected to heavily focus on enforcing permanent structural overhauls to insulate future national entrance exams from criminal manipulation.
About the Author
Pathikrit Sen Gupta is a Senior Associate Editor with News18.com and likes to cut a long story short. He writes sporadically on Politics, Sports, Global Affairs, Space, Entertainment, And Food. He tra…Read More
Read More
