SC junks plea over error in NEET-UG 2025 answer key

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea by a student seeking correction of an alleged error in the final answer key for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test undergraduate exam 2025 (NEET UG 2025).

A division bench comprising Justice PS Narasimha and Justice R Mahadevan observed that it would not interfere with the results of a nationwide examination based on an individual's grievance, even if the error claimed was genuine.

Petitioner and candidate Shivam Gandhi Raina had challenged the correctness of one question of the NEET-UG 2025 question paper.


He claimed that the answer marked by the National Testing Agency (NTA) was flawed. The petitioner sought a stay on the ongoing counselling process and revision of the result.

The bench said it cannot entertain such individual challenges once the results are declared for a pan-India competitive examination. The petitioner's counsel argued that the SC had intervened in NEET-UG 2024.

The petitioner's counsel contended that the instant matter affects the career of students.

"One mark difference will mean a lot. So many students are affected by this," the petitioner's counsel said, demanding the constitution of an expert committee to examine the said question.

The court, however, drew a distinction between last year's case and the current one. The Bench said the top court's intervention in 2024 was due to widespread grievances regarding the discrepancies and shortcomings in the conduct of the exam.