SC dismisses plea for NEET-PG 2026 retest, slaps ₹25,000 cost

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a public interest litigation seeking the re-conduct of the NEET-PG 2026 examination, while imposing a cost of ₹25,000 on the petitioner and referring the advocate to the Bar Council of India for potential disciplinary action.

A bench of Justices P.S. Narasimha and Alok Aradhe expressed displeasure over the filing, observing that the petitioner appeared to be a habitual PIL litigant who files petitions whenever examinations are held. The court questioned whether the petitioner was genuinely interested in the matter or whether the petition was filed at the lawyer's instance.

The plea alleged a violation of a May 2025 court order that required NEET-PG to be conducted in a single shift. The petitioner's counsel claimed that around 2,500 candidates in Jaipur could not complete the exam due to an internal power outage, and that the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) had scheduled a supplementary exam for September 5.

However, the NBEMS counsel countered that the disruption affected only two of 1,111 examination centres across India, both in Jaipur. The counsel further noted that the petitioners were from Noida and Punjab and were unaffected by the incident. It was also submitted that the lawyer had solicited complaints from aspirants on social media, creating unnecessary alarm.

Justice Aradhe asked whether the petitioners themselves intended to take the exam, to which the NBEMS counsel replied in the negative. The bench warned the lawyer about the harm caused by such petitions and stated it would refer the matter to the Bar Council of India for action against the advocate for misuse of legal process. The petition was subsequently dismissed.