NEET 2025: NO Re-exam for power outage affected candidates- MP HC sets aside order

Indore: The Madhya Pradesh High Court has set aside a previous order passed by a single judge-bench directing the National Testing Agency (NTA) to conduct a re-test of the National Eligibility-Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2025 exam for the candidates in Indore and Ujjain, who were affected by power outage at the exam centres.

Even though the Division bench of Justices Vivek Rusia and Binod Kumar Dwivedi did not grant any relief to the petitioner candidates, who claimed that their performance was affected due to power outage during the examination, the bench directed NTA along with local administration of each district to ensure that all measures, especially the continuity of power supply is arranged in the future.

"In order to avoid such a situation in future, NTA as well as the local administration of each district are directed to ensure that all the measures, especially the continuity of power supply by way of regular supply or by way of alternate mode of supply, proper sitting arrangement, availability of air and cooling etc. It is the responsibility of the local administration to prepare the list of centres which can be used for these types of important examinations by any of the agencies," ordered the HC Division bench.

The bench also expressed concerns regarding the plight of the petitioner students who had to face a power outage during the examination. But it also observed,

"It is also a fact to accept that more than 22 lakh students appeared for limited seats of 01 lakh, therefore, the percentage of selection is very low. These students who are feeling that they could not perform well because of power outage in their examination centres, but the other 21 lakh students who appeared in good condition remained unsuccessful. There is no guarantee that even if the re-test is done in all conducive circumstances or atmosphere, they will secure higher marks than this examination."

Also Read: No NEET 2025 Re-exam for power outage affected candidates- MP HC stays order

NEET UG examination, which was held on May 4 this year, is the gateway for medical aspirants to get admitted to undergraduate medical courses across the country. However, this year, on the day of the exam, several exam centres in Indore faced a power outage because of the weather conditions.

On June 23, a Single bench of the High Court comprising Justice Subodh Abhyankar of the Indore bench had ordered a re-test of 75 affected candidates while citing Article 14 of the Indian Constitution, which ensures equality and justice, as the basis for its decision, stating that the students were placed at a disadvantage through no fault of their own.

During the hearing of the matter, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for NTA, relied on a report drafted by an independent committee, which showed that despite the one-hour power outage at the 19 affected centres, the candidates had sufficient natural light to complete the ecam, and Diesel Generator (DG) sets were also available in some centres.

High Court's Observations: 

The Division bench of the High Court noted that there was no dispute regarding the fact that on 04.05.2025, between 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm, there was heavy rainfall and a thunderstorm in Indore, due to which the power supply was affected. The petitioners claimed that even though they attempted all the questions in the allotted time, due to the power outage and non-availability of proper light, they could not perform well.

At this outset, the Court took note of the report given by the Collector, Indire to NTA stating that due to bad weather and a thunderstorm, there was power failure from 10 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes in 24 examination centres. However, in most of these centres, allegedly, the supply was restored by an alternate mode.

"The situation, which occurred suddenly, was beyond the control of NTA as well as local administration because normally Monsoon never reaches to eastern part of Madhya Pradesh in the first week of May, therefore, no one could anticipate rainfall and thunder in peak summer days. Suddenly, the weather changed, and heavy storms and rain started, in fact nobody was prepared for that, therefore, it was unfortunate for the students that they had to attend the examination during such unpredicted disturbance," observed the bench.

"It is correct that for every child this exam is very important for his future career, but it is also important to note that out of 27264 candidates, only 70 candidates have filed writ petitions complaining about disruption due to power outage which is a very insignificant figure," the HC bench further noted.

NTA explained on the average number of responses in the NEET UG 2025 from all the centres in Indore by way of bar diagrams. Taking note of the same, the HC bench observed, "It is clear from the aforesaid that the result and performance of the writ petitioners were not seriously affected due to bad weather and power outage for some time."

The court noted that in this case, before taking any decision, NTA constituted a committee of three independent professors from IIT, Delhi, and the said Expert Committee has neither recommended for grant of extra marks nor re-testing. All the data was provided to the committee, and thereafter, the Committee recommended that it was not a fit case to award compensatory marks or hold a re-test.

Further, the Court relied on the Supreme Court's observation regarding the two-shift NEET PG exam. The Apex Court had held that holding the exam in two shifts would invariably enable arbitrariness and would not entain at-par evaluation of the comparative merit of the candidates who take the examinations since no two question papers can ever said to be at an identical level of difficulty or ease.

Referring to this, the HC bench held, "Therefore, the above reasoning also answers the arguments of the learned counsel appearing for the writ petitioners that the NTA prepares the two sets of question papers and a re-test can be conducted from the second set of question papers. Second sets are always prepared in each and every examination in order to be used in case the first set of question papers is leaked, destroyed, lost etc. but in one examination, both sets of question papers cannot be used, either entire examination will be held with one set of question paper or another set of question paper."

Accordingly, setting aside the order of the single-judge bench, the High Court ordered, "As said by Shri Mehta, learned Solicitor General, the NTA is not taking up this matter as an adversary litigant, before taking any decision against the student a matter was examined by constituting a committee of experts and later on rejected the prayer for re-test as per opinion given by the such committee. In view of the above, we do not find that it is a fit case for a re-test of NEET (UG) 2005. Hence, all the Writ Appeals filed by the National Testing Agency stand allowed. The impugned order passed by the Writ Court dated 23.06.2025 is hereby set aside, all the writ petitions are dismissed."

To view the order, click on the link below:

https://medicaldialogues.in/pdf_upload/mp-hc-no-neet-retest-294822.pdf

Also Read: NEET 2025 Power outage row: HC sympathizes with students, reserves verdict on re-exam