Mumbai: The cancellation of the NEET-UG 2026 exam has reached the legal arena.
Mumbai-based judicial activist and advocate Faiyaz Alam Shaikh has issued a legal notice to the National Testing Agency (NTA), the Union Ministry of Education and the National Medical Commission (NMC), calling the decision “arbitrary, disproportionate and unconstitutional.”
The notice, issued under Section 80 of the Civil Procedure Code, has been sent on behalf of around 25 lakh medical aspirants who appeared for the medical entrance examination held on May 3.
The NTA announced the cancellation on May 12, citing inputs on alleged irregularities and malpractice.
According to the legal notice, NTA has failed to publicly disclose the actual scale of the breach, including the number of examination centres or candidates allegedly involved.
Advocate Shaikh has argued that cancelling the entire exam without distinguishing between tainted and untainted candidates amounts to “collective punishment”, and violates Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution which guarantee equality before law and the right to life and personal liberty.
The notice also contends that NTA’s decision is not consistent with principles laid down by the Supreme Court in a case related to NEET 2024, where the top court had observed that a systemic breach must be established before an entire examination process is scrapped.
The notice further claims that NTA acted before the completion of any independent investigation — including a possible probe by central agencies — thereby raising concerns over procedural fairness and transparency.
The notice has demanded immediate withdrawal of the cancellation order, declaration of results for unaffected candidates, public disclosure of data related to alleged malpractice, and the creation of a Rs 10 crore relief fund for affected aspirants.
Shaikh stated that NTA’s decision was a “betrayal of 25 lakh dreams”, alleging that students from rural, economically weaker and marginalised backgrounds were being unfairly penalised for isolated instances of wrongdoing by others.
Setting a May 20 deadline for authorities to respond to the notice, failing which Shaikh said a pro bono public interest litigation (PIL) will be filed in the Supreme Court seeking a stay on any proposed re-examination and broader reforms in the functioning of the NTA under judicial oversight.
