Madras High Court Declines Plea Seeking SOP To Ensure Fair Conduct Of NEET Re-Exam, Cites Pending Supreme Court Proceedings

The bench of Chief Justice SA Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan dismissed the plea after noting that the issue was already pending before the Supreme Court and it would not be appropriate for the HC to intervene in the matter during the pendency of the case.

The petition, filed by Venkatesawaran from Krishnagiri District of Tamil Nadu, had sought a direction to the authorities to formulate a comprehensive SOP to ensure that the students get prescribed time to write the examination across all examination centres.

As an interim measure, the petitioner had also sought directions to the National Testing Agency to prepare ad hoc guidelines, dealing with all issues and sensitize the invigilators to ensure an uninterrupted environment to the candidates appearing for the examination.

It may be noted that the NEET UG 2026 examination that was conducted by the National Testing Agency on May 3 this year was cancelled after allegations of paper leak. It was later found that a guess paper containing the questions was leaked on WhatsApp and Telegram, weeks before the scheduled date of the exam. The re-examination is scheduled to be conducted on June 21.

The Supreme Court had previously sought a report from the NTA regarding the steps taken in compliance with the recommendations made by the expert committee in 2024. The High-Powered Committee, which was constituted as per the Court's 2024 judgment, had suggested measures to strengthen the NEET mechanism.

Another plea before the Supreme Court, which challenged the NTA's decision to cancel the examination and conduct a fresh examination, has also been posted for hearing in the month of July.

Considering the pendency of the cases before the Supreme Court, the bench was not inclined to entertain the plea and dismissed the same.

Case Title: Venkateswaran v The Union of India and Another

Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Mad) 270

Case No: WP 23077 of 2026