Former ADGHS Dr. Mangala Kohli approached the Supreme Court challenging NTA’s decision to cancel and re-conduct NEET-UG 2026 for nearly 22 lakh candidates, raising concerns over fairness, proportionality, accountability, and constitutional rights.
Former Assistant Director General of Health Services Dr. Mangala Kohli has moved the Supreme Court challenging the National Testing Agency’s (NTA) decision to cancel and re-conduct NEET-UG 2026 across the country for nearly 22 lakh candidates.
The petition, filed as a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) under Article 32 of the Constitution through AOR Abhishek Chandra Mishra, seeks quashing of the nationwide re-examination directive. The plea argues that the decision raises issues of constitutional fairness, proportionality, institutional accountability, and the rights of genuine candidates under Articles 14, 19(1)(g), and 21.
Dr. Kohli, a former senior medical administrator associated with medical education and public health, states that she has long been engaged with questions related to transparency, standardisation, and fairness in medical admissions and entrance examinations. She also points to her involvement in efforts that contributed to the development of NEET as a unified, merit-based national entrance test.
While the petition acknowledges that allegations of paper leaks and examination malpractice are serious and call for strict investigation and exemplary action against those responsible, it contends that lakhs of bona fide candidates should not be made to suffer due to failures linked to the examination-conducting authority’s institutional and administrative lapses.
The PIL states that investigations conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) indicate the existence of organised networks involving intermediaries, coaching facilitators, and individuals allegedly connected to the confidential examination process. According to the petition, official statements by the investigating agencies suggest that persons entrusted with access to confidential question material allegedly misused that access by circulating actual question papers through organised coaching sessions and intermediaries operating across identified centres and regions.
The petitioner argues that the material disclosed by the investigating agencies points to “localised operational compromise through specific organised networks”, and does not prove nationwide contamination of the entire examination process. However, it says, the NTA proceeded to cancel the exam and direct a nationwide re-conduct, forcing approximately 22 lakh students to again appear for one of the country’s most competitive entrance examinations.
The plea further submits that the decision has caused severe academic, mental, and financial hardship to lakhs of candidates—most of whom, it says, have no connection whatsoever to the alleged malpractice. It also alleges that the move has disrupted the broader medical admissions process across the country.
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Alongside challenging the re-examination order, the PIL seeks institutional and technological reforms for conducting national-level competitive examinations. It calls for implementation of secure, technology-driven digital systems for both the examination and evaluation, including encrypted digital question delivery, biometric authentication, AI-assisted monitoring, and secure computer-based examination infrastructure.
The petition also asks for the formation of an independent expert committee to examine structural, institutional, and operational deficiencies in the functioning of the NTA. It further seeks directions to exclude compromised examination personnel, centres, and operational networks identified during investigations, and to introduce stronger security and supervisory safeguards for future national-level exams.
As interim relief, the petitioner seeks a stay on the operation and implementation of the decision directing nationwide re-conduct of NEET-UG 2026. The plea also seeks directions restraining the authorities from proceeding with the re-examination or taking any consequential steps during the pendency of the PIL.
The petition maintains that while those responsible for any examination compromise must be identified and proceeded against, a blanket cancellation and re-examination affecting the entire candidate base fails the tests of constitutional fairness and proportionality, and unjustly penalises lakhs of meritorious students who were not implicated in wrongdoing.
In related news, the Supreme Court had recently refused a plea seeking a NEET-UG 2026 re-test scheduled on June 21 in Computer-Based Test (CBT) mode. A bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Aravind Kumar was hearing a petition by RJD MP Sudhakar Singh, which demanded immediate migration of NEET to a CBT-based system. The bench posted the matter to July, effectively declining relief.
Justice Narasimha observed that the Court had dismissed similar pleas in the past, saying:
“You know what kind of problems we are having. The examination was cancelled, it is being reconducted…the kind of pressure that they have, similar matters we have dismissed,”
On May 29, the Court had underscored the urgent need for structural reforms within the NTA, observing that recurring controversies surrounding NEET would continue unless clear individual accountability is fixed within the system. The bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe made the observations while hearing a batch of petitions arising from the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak and subsequent cancellation.
“The real problem won’t stop till actual accountability arises… Unless you identify the duty holders, it will be a diffused obligation,” the Bench remarked, stressing that responsibility within the examination framework cannot remain vague or confined only to the institution.
Calling the incident “very traumatic”, the Court said students and their families should not suffer due to repeated failures in conducting national-level examinations.
The Bench observed,
“We cannot disappoint our students. It is not merely the student, it’s the family too… It is so much of emotions, love, time, years of study,”
Case title: Mangala Kohli v. Union of India & Ors.