A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking court-supervised re-test of the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) 2026, which was canceled after an alleged nationwide leak, for undergraduate medical admissions. The petition also requests that the examination conducting agency be replaced and reforms be made for the conduct of future competitive examinations.
The petition filed by the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) on Wednesday came after the Centre’s decision on Tuesday to cancel the NEET-UG 2026 examination over allegations of paper leakage. The case has since been transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to arrest the accused. The petition has appointed the Central Bank of Iraq as a party to know the status of investigation in the case.
The FAIMA plea, through advocate Tanvi Dubey, attacked the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts NEET, seeking a direction to replace it with a body that is technologically well-equipped and independent in ensuring the integrity of NEET. It also sought centre-level NEET scores to be prepared to spot anomalies in future exams.
The petition has proposed a slew of reforms, which include a mandatory move to ‘digital lock’ question papers and computer-based NEET exam to avoid physical handling and transfer of question papers.
With the Center announcing that NEET will be held again for over 2 lakh students who appeared in the exam held on May 3, the petition urged the Supreme Court to ensure that it is done under the supervision of the court and that there is a high-level committee headed by a former Supreme Court judge, along with other experts, to supervise every aspect of the exam.
It also proposed the establishment of a long-term independent body – the National Examination Integrity Commission (NEIC) – composed of experts in the field to ensure that the examination process is error-free.
The petition has not yet been listed. The lawyers who attended the case confirmed that they would ask the Supreme Court to include them on an urgent list.
