Chennai l
The Madras High Court has indicated that a re-examination for NEET aspirants affected by a power cut in Chennai is unlikely, stating that the disruption did not significantly impact the candidates’ ability to write the exam.
The court was hearing a petition filed by 13 NEET aspirants from Tamil Nadu, including students like Sai Priya, Hariharan, and Akshaya, who appeared for the NEET UG 2025 exam at the Srikendriya Vidyalaya CRPF Centre in Avadi on May 4. According to the petitioners, a power outage from 3 PM to 4:15 PM, caused by heavy rains, forced them to write the exam in poor lighting conditions.
The students claimed that no backup power arrangements were made, and the low visibility made it difficult to concentrate. They demanded that the National Testing Agency (NTA) conduct a re-exam for the affected candidates.
Earlier, the Madras High Court had sought a response from the Central Government and temporarily stayed the publication of NEET 2025 results. During the latest hearing on June 3, the Centre argued that:
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All 464 students at the Avadi centre wrote the exam.
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Each student answered all 80 questions, indicating their ability to complete the paper despite the outage.
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Given that 22 lakh students appeared for NEET nationwide, a re-exam for a single centre was impractical.
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The NTA had ensured minimum disruption and fairness.
The petitioners, however, maintained that the doors were shut due to the rain, worsening the already dim conditions inside. Their counsel insisted that lighting issues disrupted their performance, and an inspection should confirm the same.
However, Justice C. Kumarappan, who is presiding over the case, observed that the power outage occurred during daylight hours, and the situation did not justify a re-exam.
“There appears to be no serious impact on the exam. Since it was daytime, the power cut cannot be seen as grounds for a re-exam,” he said.
The final verdict is scheduled for June 6, with the court leaning towards lifting the interim stay on results and rejecting the demand for a re-test.
