W.P.(C) 11576/2026 $~66 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI # CNR No. DLHC010372032026 + W.P.(C) 11576/2026 & CM Nos. 53614/2026 & 53615/2026 RISHI KAILASH & ANR. .....Petitioners Through: Mr. Abhisht Hela, Adv. versus NATIONAL TESTING AGENCY & ORS. .....Respondents Through: Mr. Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General of India & Mr. Chetan Sharma, Additional Solicitor General with Ms. Manisha Agrawal Narain, Mr. Amit Gupta, Mr. R.V. Prabhat, Mr. Shubham Sharma, Mr. Naman, Mr. Sarthak Rana, Mr. Nipun Jain, Mr. Siddhant & Mr. Pradyuman Singh, Advs. for R-1,4,5&6. Mr. Sanjay Khanna, Ms. Pragya Bhushan, Mr. Naman Dwivedi, Ms. Meemansa Dixit, Ms. Jaya Choudhary & Mr. Saurabh Pandey, Advs. for NTA. Mr. Ashish K. Dixit, Mr. Umar Hashmi, Mr. Ayush Kumar & Ms. Iqra Sheikh, Advs. for R-4&5. Ms. Manisha Agarwal Narain, Adv. for R-2. CORAM: HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE TEJAS KARIA O R D E R % 19.08.2026 1. Heard the learned Counsel for the Petitioners, Mr. Tushar Mehta, learned Solicitor General of India representing Respondent Nos. 1, 4, 5 and 6 and Ms. Manisha Agarwal Narain, learned Counsel appearing for Respondent No. 2. This is a digitally signed order. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 24/08/2026 at 10:56:57 W.P.(C) 11576/2026 2. The instant Writ Petition, as a Public Interest Litigation (“PIL”), has been placed before this Court in view of the order dated 12.08.2026 passed by the learned Single Judge. 3. The prayers made in the present Writ Petition are as under: “a. Issue a Writ in the nature of Mandamus (or any other appropriate writ, order, or direction) directing Respondent No. 1 (NTA) to re-evaluate and correct the final Score Cards of the Petitioners and all similarly affected candidates by awarding the mandatory +4 marks for the dropped question in strict compliance with Clause 3.3, Chapter 4 of the Information Bulletin. b. Issue Writ in the Nature of Mandamus Directing Respondent No. 1 to rectify all arithmetic errors between recorded OMR response sheets and final scorecards across all roll numbers. c. Issue Directions to constitute an independent technical expert committee or Special Investigation Team or Judicial Committee headed by retired or sitting Justice of Hon'ble Supreme Court to investigate and examine the allegations and contentions of the petitioners and rule out any discrepancy or corrupt or unscrupulous malpractices which might have crept in the entire process, and to conduct a comprehensive audit of the result processing software/algorithm used for the RE-NEET (UG) 2026 Examination. d. Issue Direction in the Nature of Mandamus to Respondent no. 3 and 4 to scrap NTA and prohibit from conducting any further examinations of national importance. e. Issue direction in the Nature of Mandamus directing the respondent no. 3 and respondent no. 4 to appoint or establish an autonomous body established under constitution of India, for conduction of examination of National Importance. f. Issue directions in the Nature of Mandamus to Respondent no.1, to reduce the cut-off marks, to protect the fundamental rights of all the aspirants. g. Issue Writ in the Nature of Certiorari to quash the result and notification dated: 16.07.2026, being faulty and vitiated. h. Issue Writ in nature of Mandamus directing the respondents to pay compensation and cost of litigation to the petitioners.” This is a digitally signed order. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 24/08/2026 at 10:56:57 W.P.(C) 11576/2026 4. The prayer Clause (a) seeks a direction to be issued to Respondent No. 1 to re-evaluate and correct the final score cards of the Petitioners and all similarly affected candidates by awarding the mandatory +4 marks for the dropped question in conformity with Clause 3.3 of Chapter 4 of the Information Bulletin. 5. In case, the Petitioners are seeking the aforesaid prayer for protection of their personal rights, the present Writ Petition cannot be entertained as a PIL. However, the prayer Clause (a), mentioned above, seeks a direction for correction of final score cards of the Petitioners and in the same breadth, seeks the same relief in respect of similarly affected candidates. The other prayers sought in the Writ Petition are to rectify the alleged arithmetic errors which may be required once +4 marks are awarded for each dropped question. However, the said prayer has been made not only in respect of the Petitioners but in respect of all roll numbers, that is, all candidates who participated in the RE-NEET (UG) 2026 Examination. Certain other prayers have been made such as for constitution of a Technical Expert Committee to investigate and examine the allegations and contentions raised by the Petitioners in the Writ Petition and also to scrap the National Testing Agency itself, thereby prohibiting it from conducting any further examinations of national importance. 6. From a perusal of the prayer clause what we find is that the Petitioners have made bunch of prayers seeking reliefs not only in respect of themselves but also in respect of all candidates who appeared in RE-NEET (UG) 2026 Examination. The Writ Petition with such a mixture of prayers in our opinion cannot be entertained. This is a digitally signed order. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 24/08/2026 at 10:56:57 W.P.(C) 11576/2026 7. At this juncture, the learned Counsel for the Petitioners states that so far as Petitioner No. 2 is concerned, she may be permitted to withdraw the present Writ Petition with liberty to take recourse to a remedy available to her in law including for filing a civil writ petition. He prays that on behalf of Petitioner No. 1 also the Writ Petition may be permitted to be withdrawn with liberty to institute a PIL with prayers concerning institutional reforms which may be required for conducting public examinations such as the NEET (UG) Examination. 8. In view of the aforesaid, the instant Writ Petition as well as pending Applications are dismissed as withdrawn with liberty as prayed for. DEVENDRA KUMAR UPADHYAYA, CJ TEJAS KARIA, J AUGUST 19, 2026 ‘gsr’ This is a digitally signed order. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 24/08/2026 at 10:56:57