The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed an urgent hearing on a petition challenging the re-conduct of the National Eligibility for Undergraduate Entrance Test (NEET-UG) 2026 after a group of candidates alleged growing anxiety and stress over allegations affecting the integrity of examinations and lack of preparation time for the Sunday examination.
“We will not entertain any application for urgent hearing,” Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant said, while responding to the urgent listing request of the petition filed by 11 NEET aspirants who claimed to have received representations upholding the demands for rescheduling of NEET rescheduling on June 21.
Advocate Adeel Ahmed, who represented the petitioners, told the court that they were not against reinstating NEET but were under intense pressure and anxiety over the recent developments. “Candidates are under a lot of stress and anxiety. There are rumors of a paper leak affecting the integrity of the NEET re-test as well,” Ahmed said. He stated that students expressed their concerns about the short preparation time since the announcement of the re-examination date in a short time.
“We know how judicial platforms are being used,” the CJI said as she directed the petitioner to file other petitions over the alleged NEET paper leak in July.
The petition stated that the candidates are already suffering psychological trauma due to the sudden cancellation of the previous examination – held on May 3 – by the National Testing Agency (NTA). “Retesting in approximately five weeks has caused widespread psychological distress, uncertainty, disruption of academic schedules, and extreme prejudice to candidates across the country,” the petition reads.
“Many candidates had already withdrawn from their preparations after completing the original exam and were then asked to resume preparation for an intensive curriculum under conditions of uncertainty and anxiety,” she added.
She also added that uncertainty surrounding the re-test process still exists even at the stage of issuing and downloading admit cards as many candidates were unable to do so due to technical glitches, server errors, login failures, website timeout among other factors. “Such circumstances also show that the screening process remained uncertain and stressful even on the eve of the scheduled screening,” the petition said.
Following the NTA’s decision to cancel the NEET (UG) exam on May 10, the Supreme Court took up petitions filed by the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) and the United Doctors Front (UDF) seeking to review the effectiveness of the NTA and the need for independent supervision on the conduct of professional admissions for MBBS admissions, taking into account the fact that the NEET-UG 2026 exam was attempted by over 2.27 million students this year aspiring to be doctors.
