The Supreme Court of India has dismissed a petition filed by a student challenging the final answer key of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2025. The petition, filed by Shivam Gandhi Raina, alleged an error in question number 136 of code number 47 and sought a stay on the ongoing counseling process, along with a revision of the final result.

A bench of Justices PS Narasimha and R Mahadevan stated that the court would not interfere in individual challenges to national-level examinations after the results have been declared. The court reasoned that it was unwilling to interfere with the results of a nationwide examination based on an individual's grievance, even if the claimed error was genuine.

Senior Advocate R Balasubramanium, representing the petitioner, argued that a similar intervention had occurred last year in relation to NEET-UG 2024, where the Supreme Court relied on an expert report from IIT-Delhi to direct corrections. He contended that a one-mark difference could significantly impact a student's career and that many students were affected by the alleged error. He requested the constitution of an expert committee to examine the specific question.

The Supreme Court, however, distinguished the present case from the NEET-UG 2024 case, pointing out that the previous intervention was due to widespread grievances regarding discrepancies and shortcomings in the exam's conduct. The court also noted that a similar challenge to the NEET-UG answer key had been rejected the previous day.

The petitioner, Shivam Gandhi Raina, had scored 565 marks in the NEET-UG 2025 examination, securing an all-India rank of 6,783 and a general category rank of 3,195. Raina claimed that the answer marked by the National Testing Agency (NTA) was flawed and that the error was based on the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbook of Class 11. He stated that he had approached the NTA after the release of the provisional answer key on June 3, but the error was retained in the final results.

The Supreme Court reiterated that it can only interfere in matters of national-level exams if systematic failings were found. The dismissal of the petition underscores the court's stance against interfering in national-level examinations based on individual grievances, especially after the declaration of results.