NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has directed an expert committee to review four disputed answers in the UGC-NET June 2026 examination after candidates raised concerns over errors in the answer key.
Justice Jasmeet Singh released a verdict on this on November 5 and directed the committee to examine the four questions and give a reasoned decision within three weeks as the answer key appeared to contain errors.
The court passed the order while hearing five petitions filed by candidates who challenged discrepancies in 10 answers in the provisional and final answer keys.
Of the 10 disputed questions, the court declined to interfere in six after the University Grants Commission (UGC) informed it that subject experts had already examined them and found no apparent errors.
However, the court referred the remaining four questions for a fresh review. These include two questions from Education, one from Urdu and one from Geography.
The court observed that errors in answer keys could affect candidates' merit rankings and eligibility. It also noted that even a single mark could determine whether a candidate clears the qualifying cut-off.
The expert committee has been asked to consider the candidates' objections, give them an opportunity to present their views and issue a reasoned decision within the given time.
The UGC-NET June 2026 examination was conducted between June 22 and June 30, with around 7.27 lakh candidates appearing for it. The results were declared in August.
The examination had earlier faced criticism from candidates over alleged errors in question papers, repeated questions from 2024 examination and discrepancies in answer keys.
Complaints regarding the English, Commerce and Sociology papers also led the National Testing Agency (NTA) to conduct fresh examinations for these subjects in September.
The latest court order has brought the answer key issue back into focus, with the expert committee now tasked with examining the four disputed answers.
(With inputs from media reports)