Plea in Supreme Court seeking NEET re-exam for students affected by power outage

A petition has been filed before the Supreme Court against an order of the Madhya Pradesh High Court disallowing re-test for candidates in the National-Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) undergraduate exam who were affected by power outages at the examination centres in Ujjain and Indore [Laxmi Devi v. National Testing Agency & Ors.].

The matter was mentioned on Wednesday by the petitioners' counsel before Justice Surya Kant who ordered that it be listed for hearing next week.

A single-judge of the High Court had initially ordered re-examination for the candidates affected by power outage.

However, a Division Bench of the High Court overturned the same on appeal by the National Testing Agency (NTA) which conducts the exam.

This led to the present appeal before the apex court.

According to the petitioners, several examination centres experienced power outage lasting 1–2 hours due to thunderstorms and no adequate backup arrangements were in place. As a result, candidates were compelled to write the exam in near darkness without being granted compensatory time.

In support of their claims, the petitioners placed before the High Court records of video footage, media reports and statements made by the District Collector of Indore acknowledging the weather-induced power disruption.

Appearing for the NTA, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the High Court single-judge that there was no adverse impact on student performance. He cited an expert committee report, which concluded that there was no significant deviation in average scores between affected and unaffected centres.

After hearing the parties, Justice Subodh Abhyankar of the High Court observed that the petitioners had established valid grounds for intervention under Article 14 of the Constitution, as they were unfairly disadvantaged by a power outage.

The single-judge noted that the exam authorities had admitted that a power outage took place, and that they had to rely on alternative lighting arrangements like emergency lights and candles.

The single-judge, therefore, directed the NTA to conduct a re-examination at the earliest and declare the results, clarifying that the petitioners’ ranks will be determined solely based on their re-test scores.

The Division Bench overturned the said order on appeal by NTA.

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