A bench headed by Justice PS Narasimha will in July hear a petition challenging the decision to conduct NEET-UG 2026 re-examination, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday.
On May 12, the National Testing Agency (NTA) canceled the National Eligibility Test for Undergraduate Entrance, or NEET-UG, held on May 3 for medical admissions amid allegations of paper leakage.
The CBI is currently investigating the matter, and a retest is scheduled for June 21.
On Wednesday, a petition seeking quashing of the decision to reconduct NEET-UG 2026 came up for hearing before a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice V Mohana.
The CJI said the petition will be heard by a bench headed by Justice Narasimha in July when the Supreme Court resumes its normal work after the court’s partial working days.
Separate petitions related to NEET-UG have already been heard by the bench led by Justice Narasimha.
The new call sought to direct the Center and others to implement secure, technology-based digital examination and assessment mechanisms, including encrypted digital question delivery systems, biometric authentication, AI-assisted proctoring, and secure computer-based examination infrastructure for future examinations at the national level.
He also sought to direct the Center to form an independent expert committee to study the structural, institutional and operational deficiencies in the functioning of the NTA.
The appeal has sought quashing of the decision to re-conduct NEET-UG 2026.
As an interim relief, the petition urged the Supreme Court to stay the effect of the decision regarding re-test of NEET-UG pending final disposal of the petition.
While hearing a batch of separate pleas related to NEET-UG 2026, the Supreme Court on May 29 stressed that the real problem related to the medical entrance exam will not stop until “actual accountability is demonstrated”.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta then told the Supreme Court that the government was deeply concerned about the concerns of the youth and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was personally overseeing the situation so that “there are no loopholes”.
Mehta also said that some new mechanisms have been put in place for the retake of the NEET-UG exam scheduled to be conducted on June 21.
