A series of pleas filed by National Eligibility cum Entrance Test - Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2025 candidates from Sikar, Rajasthan, citing power failures as grounds for a fresh exam or grace marks, were dismissed by the Rajasthan High Court on July 7.
Justice Sameer Jain, hearing the consolidated petitions, ruled that the claims did not substantiate disrupting outcomes for lakhs of aspirants across India, as highlighted by Hindustan Times.
The petitions stemmed from disruptions during the NEET-UG exam on May 4, where approximately 15 centres in Sikar witnessed electricity outages ranging from 5 to 28 minutes due to inclement weather.
Despite nearly 31,800 candidates appearing for the exam in Sikar, only 31 approached the court. Citing this, the court remarked that isolated complaints from such a minuscule fraction could not invalidate a nationwide examination attempted by nearly 22 lakh students.
Quoting the principle of de minimis non curat lex, Justice Jain observed, “The law does not concern itself with trifles,” adding that individual inconveniences do not automatically undermine the integrity of an exam of this scale.
Further, the high court pointed out that performance metrics revealed candidates from affected centres still fared strongly, many securing scores between 550 and 600. An Expert Committee’s findings showed no significant discrepancy in the number of questions attempted when compared with unaffected centres, as reported by Hindustan Times.
The court also dismissed concerns about mismatched question sequences and malfunctioning wall clocks, clarifying that no directive mandated chronological ordering of questions and that no concrete prejudice had been demonstrated.
Differentiating the case from the previous year’s scenario, where bonus marks were awarded due to the distribution of incorrect question series, the bench highlighted that compensatory scores could not be justified here, given the cause was a power outage, categorised under force majeure.
Reiterating that the interests of nearly 22 lakh candidates could not be compromised, Justice Jain dismissed all connected petitions and cleared pending applications tied to the case.