NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to grant urgent hearing to a plea filed by Rashtriya Janta Dal MP Sudhakar Singh and others demanding that the re-test of NEET-UG 2026, scheduled for June 21, be conducted in Computer-Based Test (CBT) mode, after observing that the National Testing Agency (NTA) is already under significant pressure.
A two-judge bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Aravind Kumar said NTA “is already faced with too many problems” due to the re-conduct of the exam. “They are reholding the exam. The kind of pressure they have. We will post (this matter) after vacation,” Justice Narasimha said while declining urgent listing and hearing of the plea.
Petitioner Singh and others, had sought a direction to shift the NEET-UG re-test from the existing pen-and-paper format to CBT mode, citing concerns over transparency and integrity. The court refused to pass any interim order directing the change in mode and posted the matter for hearing on July 27, after the summer vacation.
The NEET-UG 2026 exam was originally conducted on May 3. However, the NTA cancelled it on May 12 amid allegations of a paper leak and other irregularities.
Meanwhile, top officials from NTA told a parliamentary standing committee on Monday that the agency’s focus for now was to hold the June 21 NEET-UG re-test properly in pen-paper format.
Responding to concerns about the potential for hacking in computer-based tests, the NTA responded that a special committee has been formed to examine this issue.
