Only 70 Candidates Complaining About Disruption Due To Power Outage Which Is Insignificant Figure: Madhya Pradesh High Court Rejects Plea Seeking Re-Test Of NEET Exam

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has dismissed the Writ Appeals filed by the NEET (UG) students seeking re-test or any suitable alternative solution.

The students complained that a severe thunderstorm and rainfall that occurred on May 4, 2025, caused power outage during examination hours in several examination centres in Indore as well as in Ujjain, which adversely affected their ability to attempt the paper in optimal conditions.

A Division Bench comprising Justice Vivek Rusia and Justice Binod Kumar Dwivedi remarked, “It is correct that for every child this exam is very important for his future career, but it is also important to note that out of 27264 candidates, only 70 candidates have filed writ petitions complaining about disruption due to power outage which is a very insignificant figure.”

The Bench took note of the fact that the result and performance of the aggrieved students were not seriously affected due to bad weather and power outage for some time.

Solicitor General of India (SGI) Tushar Mehta appeared for the National Testing Agency (NTA) while Senior Advocates Vivek Sharan, Aditya Sanghi, Advocates Mradul Bhatnagar, Nitin Singh Bhati, Chinmai Mehta, and Rohit Kumar Mangal appeared for the students.

Factual Background

The batch of Writ Appeals were filed by the NTA as well as the students under Section 2(1) of the Madhya Pradesh Uchcha Nyayalaya (Khand Nyaya Peeth Ko Appeal) Adhiniyam, 2005 being aggrieved by the common Order passed by the Writ Court in Petitions filed by 78 students who appeared in the NEET (National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test) (UG) 2025 examination held on May 4, 2025 from various centres located in Indore and Ujjain. The students sought the relief of re-test or any suitable alternative solution because of a power outage during examination hours due to a severe thunderstorm and rainfall. According to the students, there was a visibility issue in the centres due to the lack of light or very dim light.

They alleged that there was no proper arrangement for backup lights during power cuts or failures by the NTA and local administration to address such eventualities. The Writ Court allowed their Petitions and directed NTA to conduct a re-examination for all who had approached the Court before the release of the provisional answer key on June 3, 2025, while denying re-test to those who had approached after the said date. It further clarified that NEET rank of the students giving re-test would be solely based on the marks obtained in the re-test. Being aggrieved by this Order, the NTA filed Appeals challenging the direction of re-exam and also by the students who were denied re-test on the ground that they had approached the Court after the cutoff date.

Reasoning

The High Court after hearing the contentions of the counsel, observed, “Learned Senior Counsel for the writ petitioners submitted that in the case of Vanshika Yadav (supra), the Apex Court directed for re-test for 1563 candidates who were initially awarded compensatory marks. Therefore, the Writ Court has rightly directed to conduct a re-test for these writ petitioners which is permissible in exceptional circumstances.”

The Court said that there is no identification of candidates who were affected by this examination and before the Writ Court only 78 Writ Petitions were filed and the Writ Court denied the relief to those Petitioners who approached after the cut-off date.

“Apart from that, more than 5000 students appeared in the centres where there was a power outage. Some of them have secured qualifying marks and one has secured AIR Rank – 2. All the students are not willing to appear in the re-test”, it added.

The Court further noted that the NTA prepares the two sets of question papers and a re-test can be conducted from the second set of question papers.

“Second sets are always prepared in each and every examination in order to be used in case the first set of question papers is leaked, destroyed, lost etc. but in one examination, both sets of question papers cannot be used, either entire examination will be held with one set of question paper or another set of question paper”, it also said.

Conclusion

The Court was of the view that it is not a fit case for a re-test of NEET (UG). Before parting with the case, it remarked that there is no guarantee that even if the re-test is done in all conducive circumstances or atmosphere, the students will secure higher marks than this examination.

“In order to avoid such a situation in future, NTA as well as the local administration of each district are directed to ensure that all the measures, especially the continuity of power supply by way of regular supply or by way of alternate mode of supply, proper sitting arrangement, availability of air and cooling etc. It is the responsibility of the local administration to prepare the list of centres which can be used for these types of important examinations by any of the agencies”, it directed and concluded.

Accordingly, the High Court dismissed the Appeals of students, allowed that of the NTA, and set aside the impugned Order.

Cause Title- National Testing Agency and Others v. Laxmi Devi and Others (Neutral Citation: 2025:MPHC-IND:17837)

Appearance:

SGI Tushar Mehta, Deputy SGI Romesh Dave, Senior Advocates Rupesh Kumar, Vivek Sharan, Aditya Sanghi, Advocates Pankhuri Shrivastava, Diksha Paliwal, Atharva Dave, Bhumika Dwivedi, Mradul Bhatnagar, N.S. Bhati, Chinmaya Mehta, Kamal Tiwari, Rohit Kumar Mangal, Ajay Jain, and Kirti Patwardhan.

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