NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the National Testing Agency's (NTA) decision to cancel the original NEET-UG 2026 examination and conduct a nationwide retest, observing that the issue no longer survived since the fresh examination had already been conducted.
A Bench of Justices P.S. Narasimha and Alok Aradhe told the counsel appearing for the petitioner that the matter had become infructuous as the re-examination had already taken place.
When the petitioner's counsel submitted that the plea also sought institutional and structural reforms within the NTA, and requested that it be tagged with other pending petitions on the issue, Justice Narasimha-led Bench orally observed that the petitioner was at liberty to intervene in the batch of pending cases seeking reforms in the functioning of the examination-conducting body.
The PIL was filed by Dr Mangala Kohli, a former Assistant Director General of Health Services, through Advocate-on-Record Abhishek Chandra Mishra. The plea had challenged the NTA's decision to cancel the NEET-UG 2026 examination conducted on May 3 and order a fresh nationwide examination following allegations of paper leaks and examination malpractice.
It contended that while allegations of examination fraud warranted strict investigation and action against those responsible, "the constitutional rights and legitimate interests of lakhs of bona fide candidates cannot be sacrificed owing to institutional and administrative failures attributable to the examination-conducting authority itself."
The petition had argued that investigations by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) indicated a "localised operational compromise through specific organised networks" rather than evidence suggesting contamination of the entire examination process across the country.
According to the plea, the decision to cancel the examination had compelled around 22 lakh candidates, including those unconnected with the alleged malpractice, to undergo another national-level competitive examination, causing severe academic, mental and financial hardship while disrupting the medical admissions process.
Besides seeking to set aside the decision to hold a retest, the petition also sought institutional, structural and technological reforms in the conduct of national-level competitive examinations, including independent oversight mechanisms, enhanced security safeguards and technology-driven examination systems incorporating encrypted digital question delivery, biometric authentication and AI-assisted monitoring.
Earlier, on June 17, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant had declined an urgent hearing on the PIL after it was mentioned before him, observing that matters relating to NEET-UG 2026 were already being heard by another Bench led by Justice P.S. Narasimha. The CJI had observed that the present plea would also be listed before the same Bench.
Meanwhile, the National Testing Agency successfully conducted the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination on June 21 after the original examination was cancelled amid concerns over alleged irregularities. More than 20 lakh medical aspirants appeared for the re-examination at 5,440 centres across India and 14 centres abroad. Nearly 7 lakh personnel, including examination staff, police personnel, observers and administrative officials, were deployed for the exercise. Over 95,000 examination rooms were monitored through more than 1.38 lakh CCTV cameras, while over 51,000 signal jammers were installed to prevent electronic malpractice.
The re-examination was conducted under extensive security measures, including Aadhaar-based biometric verification, facial authentication, two-layer frisking, real-time surveillance and command-and-control centre monitoring, aimed at ensuring transparency and preserving the integrity of one of the country's largest entrance examinations.
--IANS
