Green Light For June 21 NEET Retest: Supreme Court Refuses Urgent Hearing On PIL Against May 3 Exam Scrapping

Published 17 June 2026 · education

Green Light For June 21 NEET Retest: Supreme Court Refuses Urgent Hearing On PIL Against May 3 Exam Scrapping Written By, Last Updated: June 18

Green Light For June 21 NEET Retest: Supreme Court Refuses Urgent Hearing On PIL Against May 3 Exam Scrapping Written By, Last Updated: June 18, 2026, 02:39 IST The plea argues that the NTA’s blanket cancellation represents an 'arbitrary and disproportionate' response that violates the fundamental rights of nearly 22 lakh candidates The Centre has told the Supreme Court that the NEET-UG paper leak case was being closely monitored at the highest levels of the government. (File pic: PTI) The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to grant an urgent hearing on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the Testing Agency’s (NTA) decision to execute a blanket cancellation of the NEET-UG 2026 examination. Mentioned for urgent listing before a vacation bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, the apex court ruled that the plea would instead be deferred to July, effectively clearing the legal runway for the highly contested nationwide re-examination to proceed as scheduled on June 21. The bench observed that related petitions concerning the contentious medical entrance exam are already being systematically considered by an alternative bench led by Justice PS Narasimha.

Consequently, the vacation court directed that the fresh legal challenge be tagged with the main batch of pending matters for a comprehensive review once regular sittings resume next month. The judicial refusal to freeze the re-examination process provides immediate operational clarity to administrative bodies, even as it leaves millions of medical aspirants facing imminent re-testing under severe time constraints. “Matters concerning the NEET-UG 2026 examination are already actively being considered by another designated bench. This fresh petition will similarly be listed before that same bench in July," the court said. PIL Flags Severe Hardship Facing Innocent Candidates The deferred PIL, moved by Dr Mangala Kohli, former Assistant Director General of Health Services, through Advocate-on-Record Abhishek Chandra Mishra, fiercely questions the rationale behind the total scrapping of the original May 3 test. The petition argues that the NTA’s blanket cancellation represents an “arbitrary and disproportionate" response that violates the fundamental rights of nearly 22 lakh candidates. The plea asserts that findings emerging from ongoing Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probes point strictly toward a localised operational compromise managed by specific organised networks, rather than any nationwide contamination of the examination matrix.