The Madhya Pradesh High Court Monday directed the National Testing Agency (NTA) to conduct a retest of NEET UG 2025 for candidates affected by a power outage at examination centres in Indore and Ujjain, as per Live Law.
Justice Subodh Abhyankar, hearing a batch of writ petitions filed by the aggrieved candidates, ruled in favour of the students, stating that they were placed at a disadvantage due to circumstances beyond their control. The Court observed that the unequal conditions violated Article 14 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to equality.
“This Court is of the considered opinion that the petitioners, without any fault on their part, were subjected to disadvantageous conditions due to the power outage, which was not the case for others — even at the same centre where some students were seated in spots with sufficient natural light,” the order stated.
To better understand the petitioners’ plight, the judge even conducted part of the hearing in darkness by turning off the courtroom lights. He noted that while the courtroom had large windows allowing some natural light, such conditions might not have existed at the exam centres.
The Court also clarified that only students who filed petitions before June 3, 2025 (the date the provisional answer key was published) are eligible for the relief.
The counselling process will be subject to the outcome of the re-test, the HC said adding that the petitioners’ ranks will be determined solely based on their performance in the re-test.
NEET UG 2025 was held on May 4 and the results were declared on June 14. As many as 12,36,531 candidates cleared the exam this year. More than half of those who appeared for the exam were female candidates, while 58% or 7.22 lakh candidates who qualified were female. Among the States, the highest number of candidates who qualified were from Uttar Pradesh (1,70,684), followed by Maharashtra (1,25,727), Rajasthan (1,19,865), Karnataka (83,582) and Bihar (80,954).
