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The prestigious National Eligibility Test i.e. UGC NET (UGC NET 2026), which is conducted for the eligibility of Assistant Professor and Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) in universities and higher educational institutions across the country, has once again come under the scanner of legal controversies. Now the court has been approached against the decision of the National Testing Agency (NTA) to re-conduct the papers of some subjects of the June session examination. Taking a very serious stand on the petition filed by a candidate appearing in the examination, Delhi High Court has officially issued a notice to the Central Government and NTA. The petitioner has argued in the court that the decision to suddenly cancel the examination and re-exam without any solid and transparent process is completely arbitrary, unfair and violates the fundamental rights of the candidates. After this legal step, the heartbeats of lakhs of candidates across the country have once again become faster who had completed their exam preparation and now seem to be very worried due to this new situation of confusion.
In the petition filed, it has been mainly alleged that NTA suddenly issued a notice to re-conduct the examination without following the rules, provisions and prescribed procedure laid down in the Information Bulletin of UGC NET June 2026. The petitioner’s lawyers told the court that the agency simply announced the re-test without explaining on what grounds and due to which errors the examination was being cancelled, which is completely contrary to the principles of administrative transparency. In this case of violation of rules, the court has asked the authorities to clarify whether this step taken by them falls within the scope of the prescribed statutory guidelines or not. Students also believe that if the examinations are canceled repeatedly without any solid reason, it will not only waste the valuable time of the students but will also have a very adverse effect on their mental health and future.
It is noteworthy that NTA had already clarified that in the examination conducted during June 2026, many types of factual, typographical and serious translation errors were found in the question papers of English, Commerce and Sociology subjects. Huge complaints were lodged by the students due to wrong printing of names of prominent scholars in the papers of these subjects, garbled names of books, grammatical errors and wrong translation of many questions. On the basis of the report of the expert committee formed to investigate these complaints, NTA had decided to re-conduct the English and Commerce exam on September 9 and the Sociology exam on September 10. However, while on one hand some students were in favor of re-exam due to these irregularities, on the other hand those students who had performed better in their examination seem to be extremely hurt and disappointed by this sudden decision.
Understanding the seriousness of this entire matter, the Delhi High Court has not only sought a reply from the NTA and the Central Government, but has also directed to take an appropriate decision regarding the refund of the examination fees paid by the students for the earlier examinations. The court has fixed October 6 for the next hearing of this case, on which the eyes of the student community of the entire country are fixed. The petition also demands that even if the court accepts the decision of re-exam as correct, then no additional fee should be charged from the students appearing for re-exam and the evaluation of old papers should also be considered. It has become clear from this stand of the High Court that in the coming days, more stringent rules can be set at the legal and administrative level regarding the academic examinations and the functioning of autonomous institutions, so that the interests of the students can be protected with complete security.