Indore (Madhya Pradesh): The Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh high court on Monday reserved its verdict in the case pertaining to power outage during the NEET-UG 2024 exam in the city. The petition, filed by over 100 affected students, seeks a re-exam due to alleged disruptions caused by power outage during the test conducted on May 4.
During the hearing, advocate Mridul Bhatnagar, representing the students, presented CCTV footage and weather reports showing heavy rain and blackout at several exam centres. The footage was reviewed by the court.
Bhatnagar argued that many centres lacked proper power back-up, severely impacting the performance of candidates. “There were no generators and insufficient lighting at several locations,” he said, referring to an NTA observer’s own report.
He further claimed that the number of affected students was rising and now exceeded 100. The students asserted that their results had been compromised due to the conditions during the exam.
The National Testing Agency (NTA), represented virtually by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and in person by panel lawyer Rupesh Kumar and deputy solicitor general Ramesh Dave, maintained that back-up systems were in place at the affected centres. The agency opposed the demand for a re-exam, stating it would be unfair to conduct the test again for what they estimated to be around 75–80 students.
The final hearing on Monday, which lasted nearly an hour and a half, came after a prior session held on June 9. The court has since kept the NEET-UG results of the 75 petitioning students on hold pending its decision.
The petitioners have also requested the court to review internal reports from six centres in Ujjain, where the exam was reportedly most disrupted. The verdict is now awaited and could potentially impact the examination status and future of several medical aspirants.
