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Students Decry “Collateral Damage” as High Court Denies Re-Test
Aspiring medical students affected by a severe power cut during the NEET-UG 2025 exam in Madhya Pradesh are now looking to the Supreme Court for justice, after the Madhya Pradesh High Court declined to order a re-examination. With NEET counselling set to begin July 21, these candidates say their futures hang in the balance and should not be reduced to a matter of “bad luck”.
Supreme Court Intervention Hoped For
A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi has agreed to hear the students’ plea, highlighting that there should be “room for relief” if warranted, given the multiple upcoming rounds of NEET counselling.
One affected petitioner explained under anonymity, “All students were supposed to get three hours to attempt the exam, but for us, over an hour was wasted due to the power outage. The final hour is the most crucial. It was pitch dark; we could barely see.” The candidate, sitting for NEET-UG a second time, emphasized how the last hour determines both performance and final review of answers.
High Court Cites “Hard Luck”—Candidates and Parents Push Back
During hearings, the High Court acknowledged the difficulties yet described the situation as “hard luck”, likening it to a plane mishap—suggesting unfortunate incidents are sometimes unavoidable. Many candidates and their families found this analogy deeply unfair.
A parent, Rakesh Pandey, said: “To brush this off as mere bad luck is to treat these students as collateral damage. Courts have, in the past, ordered re-tests for specific groups. That’s exactly what should happen here,” arguing that ignoring such issues discounts the real consequences for those impacted.
Disputing the Fairness—Questions on Statistics and Conditions
Court filings introduced by the National Testing Agency (NTA) indicated that, based on expert committee findings, natural light was available and the statistical performance gap between affected and unaffected candidates was negligible. However, parents and students vehemently challenged this, saying simply counting the number of attempted questions does not capture the real impact on students under stress and poor conditions:
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Under exam stress, students may attempt questions “just to attempt,” leading to an unreliable performance metric.
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This year’s Physics paper was particularly challenging, requiring calculations.
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Dim lighting made it nearly impossible to work with non-standard fonts and complex material.
Pandey also criticized the NTA’s argument that the presence of an All India Rank (AIR) 2 topper from an affected center proved fairness. “If you watch his interview, he clearly says that the outage affected his performance. We should acknowledge how he overcame the disruption, not use him as an excuse,” he insisted.
Not Just Another Exam
NEET-UG determines entry into medical, dental, Ayurveda, and veterinary programs—often after years of dedicated preparation. Advocate Mradul Bhatnagar, representing the petitioners, stressed: “What happens in this exam can determine the course of a student’s entire career. The current directions given by the court address only future years, not students impacted this year”.
Disclaimer
This article is based on information obtained from EdexLive as of July 18, 2025. The events described, legal proceedings, and statements reflect the situation at that time and may subsequently change. Readers are encouraged to consult official updates and court orders for the latest developments.
