The Supreme Court today, Wednesday, July 23, refused to grant temporary permission to two NEET-UG 2025 candidates from Madhya Pradesh to participate in the counselling process, as they had faced power cuts during their examination. Justices PS Narasimha and AS Chandurkar heard the case and scheduled the next hearing for July 25.
The students had earlier approached the Madhya Pradesh High Court seeking a re-examination, but the high court rejected their request on July 14. They are now challenging that decision in the Supreme Court.
When the lights went out
The power outages during the NEET-UG 2025 examination affected multiple test centres across Indore and Ujjain, leaving 75 students unable to register for state-level counselling while their peers proceeded with the admission process.
"My son, who wears glasses, was in complete distress as there was no power. The power was out in the centre for almost the entire time except the short 40-minute period, which led him to attempt only 90 questions out of 180 because without light, the entire paper appeared grey to him," stated Dr VH Khaishagi, a paediatrician from Indore whose son was among the affected candidates.
Dr Khaishagi described his son's condition: "He has lost all hope and is in a state of depression and anxiety, constantly waiting for court updates. He hopes that the court will pronounce a favourable decision since it was the system's fault, but his mental and emotional state is very poor."
The complicated legal process
The case has taken a tortuous legal journey.
Initially, a single judge from the Madhya Pradesh High Court allowed a re-test for affected students. The Madhya Pradesh High Court's division bench had compared the situation to the Ahmedabad plane crash and dismissed it as "bad luck." Dr Khaishagi criticised this comparison: "The statement comparing our situation with the Ahmedabad plane crash was shocking."
Another petitioner’s parent, who wishes to remain anonymous, also expressed dissatisfaction with the high court's approach: "The high court, despite accepting that there was a power cut, termed the situation as bad luck, which is not helpful. We approached the court to plead for justice, not for commentary. Everyone knows it was bad luck, but it was also not the students' fault, and this is a basic service that the exam-conducting body should have provided."
Advocate Mradul Bhatnagar, representing the students, explained the technical challenges faced in court: "We filed around 51 petitions in the Supreme Court. The total number of pages exceeded 500, so we had to rectify several defects. We worked overnight to file the Special Leave Petition (SLP) and rectified all the defects, but due to technical verification issues, the matter was not listed as expected."
Despite multiple attempts over several days, technical verification problems delayed their hearing until July 25.
The registration race
The affected students face immediate challenges with the registration process. The anonymous parent explained: "The main issue is that registrations have started, and these students cannot register for MP counselling. The 75 students whose results were withheld by the high court cannot even register. When we contacted authorities, they said that since their results are not in the database, registration would not be possible."
The students can register for All India level counselling but remain barred from their state's process due to administrative complications.
System vs students
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the National Testing Agency (NTA), argued that allowing re-examinations for a few students could affect "lakhs of others" who took the same exam. An expert report noted that while power outages did occur, there was "still enough daylight for students to write the exam."
But this cold assessment fails to capture the human reality. As what the court found and what student accounts also confirm is that it was very difficult to see the question paper, especially for those with vision problems. Parents say that even if a retest is held, it may not drastically change the overall ranks since not everyone makes it to the top. But at least it would give affected students an equal chance to demonstrate their hard work.
Dreams on hold
Dr Khaishagi further described his son's current state: "He is enrolled in a new batch but cannot sleep or focus because all he wants is a chance to demonstrate what he studied for the last two years. He feels guilty, as if he has lost in life, and is not opening up or feels ashamed in front of his parents, even though we support him and know the issue is genuine."
The power outages varied across centres; some experienced power cuts of 5-10 minutes, while others were without electricity for over an hour. As Advocate Bhatnagar noted: "It is difficult to establish a uniform formula for all affected centres, if the court decides to award grace marks."
What's at stake
As the Supreme Court prepares for Friday's hearing, the question isn't just about a few students' exam scores. It's about whether India's premier medical entrance examination can maintain its credibility when basic infrastructure fails.
The students and their families remain hopeful that the Supreme Court will see beyond legal technicalities to the human cost of system failure.
Dr Khaishagi concluded: "We expect the Supreme Court to analyse the situation properly. It is established that there was a power cut, and the court should examine the arguments of the Madhya Pradesh High Court division bench, which are not very strong. We expect the Supreme Court to give a proper decision because even if a retest slightly changes the ranks of a few students, at least they will still get to pursue MBBS. That is better than leaving dozens of students out of the admission process entirely because of something that was not their fault.
The Supreme Court's decision on July 25 will determine whether that faith will be restored, or whether these medical aspirants will remain casualties of a power cut that may impact their entire careers.
