Conduct inquiry regarding power outage at NEET examination centre, HC directs NTA

Madras High Court orders NTA to investigate power outage during NEET exam, delaying results until resolution.

The Madras High Court has directed National Testing Agency (NTA) to find out if there was power outage at one of the centres in Avadi during the NEET (UG) examination on May 4, 2025 and whether it had affected the performance of the students.

Justice V. Lakshminarayanan also ordered that the results should not be declared until the NTA takes a call on the issue. Further, taking note that the results were anyway scheduled to be released only on June 14, 2025, the judge decided to hear the matter next on June 2 itself.

The interim orders were passed on a writ petition filed jointly by 13 students who had written the examination at PM Shri Kendriya Vidyalaya CRPF, Avadi. The petitioners said that they commenced writing the three-hour examination at 2 p.m. but encountered heavy rainfall from 3 p.m.

“There was a power outage at the examination centre from approximately 3 p.m. to 4:15 pm. There were no backup facilities such as generators or inverters. We were forced to write the examination under poor lighting conditions and rainwater entered the examination hall causing further disruption,” the petitioners said.

Stating that a total of 464 students had been assigned this centre, the petitioners said, some of the students had to move away from their assigned seats due to rainwater intrusion. “The situation created an extremely uncomfortable and distracting environment severely hampering the ability of the petitioners and other candidates to concentrate and perform to the best of their abilities,” they complained.

“Despite the disruption, the examination authorities did not provide any extra time to the affected students. On account of the same, the petitioners were not able to complete the examination fully. This places the petitioners who wrote examination at this centre at a clear disadvantage compared to others across the country,” the students said and sought a direction to NTA to conduct re-examinations for all affected students at the centre.