The Supreme Court on Friday declined to grant an urgent hearing on two separate petitions concerning the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination, which is scheduled for June 21. A Bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant stated that all petitions related to the NEET-UG examination would be heard by a Bench led by Justice PS Narasimha in July.
“All NEET matters will go before Justice (PS) Narasimha’s bench,” the Chief Justice remarked when advocate Adeel Ahmed mentioned a separate petition filed by students and NEET-UG aspirants, seeking urgent listing. The petitioner had requested a direction to the Centre and other authorities to reconsider the feasibility of conducting the examination on June 21, taking into account the representations of aspirants.
On Wednesday, the CJI-led Bench had refused to stay the decision to re-conduct NEET-UG 2026 on June 21. This examination will determine the fate of approximately 23 lakh aspirants seeking admission to undergraduate medical courses across India.
On May 12, the Centre and the National Testing Agency (NTA) cancelled the NEET-UG 2026 examination that was held on May 3. The NEET paper leak case has since been handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which has arrested 13 accused from Delhi, Gurugram, Jaipur, Nasik, Pune, and other locations.
Describing the situation as “very traumatic” for students and their families, the Supreme Court on May 29 called for fixing accountability in the NEET paper leak case. The Centre informed the court that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was personally monitoring the situation. The Justice Narasimha-led Bench emphasized, “The real problem won’t stop till actual accountability arises. Not in terms of so and so will be liable, it will be effective when we know which individual shoulders the responsibility. Unless you identify the specific duty bearers, it will be difficult.”
Justice Narasimha also remarked, “The UPSC has never been in such a situation… You need to learn,” suggesting that the NTA should learn from other bodies such as the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), which has been conducting the prestigious Civil Services Examinations without any paper leak for decades. The Bench asked the Centre to file an affidavit in the matter and posted petitions seeking a direction to replace the NTA with a robust and autonomous body to conduct the medical entrance examination for further hearing in the second week of July, after the summer vacation.
