On June 13, 2025, the Supreme Court dismissed a writ petition that challenged the National Testing Agency's (NTA) method of publishing final answer keys for the NEET UG 2025 exam only after the results are declared.
The plea was filed by a candidate who had raised objections to two questions after the provisional answer key was released. He argued that the final answer key should be made public before the declaration of results to avoid unfair ranking. According to him, this delay could lead to errors in rank allotment, giving undue advantage to candidates who answered incorrectly but were marked right in the final evaluation.
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"This violates Article 14 of the Constitution," the petitioner submitted, "as students getting marks for wrong answers gain an unfair edge over those who answered correctly."
Senior Advocate Huzefa Ahmadi appeared for the petitioner before a bench comprising Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice Manmohan. At the outset, Justice Manmohan questioned why the High Court wasn’t approached first.
In response, Senior Advocate Huzefa Ahmadi said:
“The issue raised has all-India ramifications.”
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However, the bench remained unconvinced. Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra advised the petitioner to move the High Court instead, stating:
“The High Court’s judgment will help us. You can approach them first.”
Adding a light-hearted comment, Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra remarked:
“NEET is only benefiting lawyers now. There's news today that there's a 400% increase in litigation in the USA—lawyers are gaining the most.”
Senior Advocate Huzefa Ahmadi attempted to justify the Article 32 petition, citing the scale of the examination and inconsistencies across High Courts.
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“With 22.7 lakh students appearing for NEET, one High Court saying one thing and another something else creates major confusion. The objection is regarding wrong answers in the provisional key, and the final answer key should ideally be published before result declaration.”
Justice Manmohan noted that even after the ranks are published, candidates can still challenge incorrect answers.
Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra added a word of caution:
“If final answer keys are published before the results, it will open the floodgates. There will be lakhs of such cases. This will complicate the entire process.”
Eventually, the court allowed the petitioner to withdraw the plea and granted liberty to approach the appropriate High Court.
Case Details: NAJIYA NASRE Vs UNION OF INDIA|W.P.(C) No. 578/2025
