Madhya Pradesh HC orders NTA to conduct NEET UG 2025 re-tests for students affected by power outages, only for petitions filed before June 3

INDORE: The Madhya Pradesh high court's Indore bench has ordered the National Testing Agency (NTA) to conduct re-tests for the NEET Undergraduate (UG) Examination 2025 for students who filed petitions before June 3, claiming their performance was affected by power outages during the initial exams in May.

Justice Subodh Abhyankar directed that the re-test results should solely determine the petitioners' ranks. The court emphasized that counseling scheduled for July 1, 2025, would be subject to the re-test results.The court's decision came after 119 similar petitions were clubbed together, highlighting disruptions caused by severe thunderstorms in Indore and Ujjain, which led to power outages during the exams. Petitioners argued that the lack of electricity forced them to take the exam in inadequate lighting conditions, affecting their performance.Re-test respite only for those who filed plea before June 3 The Solicitor General of India, Tushar Mehta, argued against the maintainability of the petition, citing alternative lighting arrangements provided during the exams. However, the court found that even if some light was available, it might not have been sufficient for reading and writing, thus justifying the petitioners' claims.

The court clarified that the order applies only to those who filed petitions before June 3, 2025, including those from the Ujjain center and those whose results were declared before the provisional answer key release. Petitioners who filed after June 3, 2025, are not entitled to re-examination, as they waited for the results before taking action. The court expressed confidence in the NTA's ability to prepare a paper of similar difficulty for the re-test.

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