The Madhya Pradesh High Court has reserved its judgment on the National Testing Agency’s (NTA) appeal challenging a single-judge order that directed a re-examination for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test - Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2025 candidates affected by a power outage at exam centres in Indore and Ujjain.
A division bench of Justice Vivek Rusia and Justice Binod Kumar Dwivedi, which had earlier stayed the re-test order, concluded final hearings on Thursday, July 10. After nearly two hours of arguments, the court kept its decision pending.
Speaking to EdexLive, Advocate Mradul Bhatnagar, who is representing the petitioning students, said, “The hearing went on for almost two hours. While the court acknowledged the difficulties faced by students, I am not sure if a retest will be ordered. For now, we are waiting for the final verdict. We expect it to be out before Monday.”
“One plane crashed, thousands fly every day”
During the proceedings, the bench acknowledged the pressure students may have faced due to the disruption but remained cautious about setting a precedent.
“Disturbance to the students is not disputed; we also understand the issue of stress faced by the students in such a situation. We have full sympathy for students. Many have also taken a drop; we understand their problem. But see, 22 lakh students had appeared, all of them can't be selected. Hard luck, bad luck,” the court observed orally, as per a report by LiveLaw.
Drawing an analogy, it added, “Only one plane crashed (referring to the Ahmedabad Air India crash), but thousands fly every day. One girl missed the flight by ten minutes, but she was saved. So it happens.”
NTA defends conduct of exam
Appearing for the NTA, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted an independent expert committee’s report, which examined the impact of the power outage. Comprising professors from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi and two universities, the committee concluded that despite the one-hour power failure, most candidates were able to continue due to natural light and generator backups in some centres.
“They were neutral people... report suggests that it can be said with 99 per cent confidence that there is no difference between the affected and non-affected centres,” Mehta argued, opposing the re-test.
He also clarified that no CCTV footage could be produced since the cameras were inoperative during the blackout.
Meanwhile, Advocate Rupesh Kumar, arguing for the students, challenged the committee’s findings.
“Light was not sufficient to even read the question... given the storm, rain, there was no sunlight,” he submitted, also noting that the single judge had earlier rejected the statistical analysis presented.
Senior Advocate Aditya Sanghi added, “We are in 2025, and selected centres had no power backup? Why was candlelight provided? It speaks for itself that it was completely dark.”
Re-test: legally viable or not?
The division bench questioned whether holding a re-examination was legally permissible under the examination guidelines.
“Re-exam can be undertaken in exceptional circumstances,” replied Advocate Kumar.
Responding, the Solicitor General contended that only 75 students from Indore, out of over 27,000, had sought relief through the court.
“Why should lakhs of students be disturbed?” he asked, also pointing out that the exam was multiple choice questions (MCQ)-based and didn’t require descriptive writing, added LiveLaw.
Though a re-test seemed uncertain, the court signalled openness to alternative remedies.
“Maybe there can be no test, I agree. NTA should do something, including compensating them. Candidates have burnt the midnight oil. NTA must compensate either by way of grace marks or otherwise,” the bench said.
The SG also highlighted that 11 candidates from the affected centres scored above 600 marks, and one even secured an All India Rank (AIR) 2, suggesting that performance wasn’t significantly impaired.
When asked by the court if they were seeking a re-exam for all candidates at the affected centres, the counsel clarified, “We want a re-examination for us. But others can be given an option to take the re-test. For the centres which are affected and those students who could not come before the court, can be given a chance.”
