The Madhya Pradesh High Court has stayed its June 23 order directing the National Testing Agency (NTA) to conduct a re-test for certain National Eligibility cum Entrance Test - Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2025 candidates who were affected by a power outage at their exam centres in Indore and Ujjain.
A Division Bench of Justice Vivek Rusia and Justice Binod Kumar Dwivedi passed the interim order yesterday, on July 1, after the NTA filed a writ appeal challenging the re-test directive.
The Bench observed that the NEET-UG candidates also wish to file another appeal, and these should be heard together. The matter will now be taken up on July 10."Approximately 32 students who were affected by these power outages have been excluded from the June 23 re-test order. We will be filing an appeal to ensure that these students are also considered,” said Advocate Mradul Bhatnagar, who is representing the petitioners, in a conversation with EdexLive.
While the re-test has been put on hold, the court clarified that its earlier direction, that any counselling conducted on or after July 1 shall be subject to the final outcome of the case, will remain in force.
Background: What happened at the centres?
On May 5, 2025, several NEET-UG candidates who appeared for the exam at designated centres in Indore and Ujjain experienced a power failure during the test. Students claimed that the outage severely affected visibility, especially in rooms without adequate natural lighting, leading to a significant disadvantage.
In a batch of petitions filed before the Indore Bench of the MP High Court, candidates sought relief, including a re-test, citing Article 14 of the Constitution (Right to Equality). The court was told that the environment was not uniform across all centres and that some students within the same centre were better positioned due to being seated near windows or under functional lights.
On June 23, Justice Subodh Abhyankar, after hearing the matter, ruled in favour of some petitioners and directed the NTA to hold a fresh exam for them.
Notably, during the hearing, the judge had switched off the lights in the courtroom to simulate the exam condition. Observing that natural light was inadequate even in the courtroom, the judge inferred that the petitioners had indeed been placed at a disadvantage “for no fault of their own.”
However, the June 23 ruling only extended relief to a subset of the petitioners, excluding nearly 30 others, who now plan to appeal.
With both the NTA and the excluded petitioners set to file appeals, the Division Bench has decided to club all related matters and hear them on July 10. Until then, no re-test will be conducted, and the situation around NEET-UG counselling will remain provisionally safeguarded, pending the final court order.
