Delhi HC closes UGC-NET plea after Centre announces retest

The Centre informed the Delhi High Court that UGC-NET June 2026 will be re-conducted for Sociology, English and Commerce after complaints of errors in question papers. The court disposed of a plea seeking an independent probe and stay on results

New Delhi: The Centre on Wednesday informed the Delhi High Court that a retest is being conducted for three subjects, including Sociology, of the UGC-NET June 2026 examination following complaints of some errors in the questionnaires.

Taking note of the submission of Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, Justice Jasmeet Singh disposed of a plea filed by a candidate who appeared for the Sociology paper on June 30, seeking a stay on the declaration of results pending an independent probe and re-conduct of the exam following allegations of a paper leak.

---

While the English and Commerce papers will be held on September 9, the Sociology paper will be held on September 10, the SG told the high court.

He said nothing survived in the petition as the authorities had decided to re-conduct the test.

Justice Jasmeet Singh recorded the statement of the law officer and said: “In view of the statement of the Solicitor General, the prayer in the petition does not survive and the petition is disposed of”.

The National Testing Agency (NTA) conducted the UGC-NET June 2026 examination from June 22 to 30 across 87 subjects for the award of Junior Research Fellowship (JRF), eligibility for assistant professor and admission to PhD programmes.

The SG made the statement at the outset of the hearing on the petition, which sought a stay on the declaration of results pending an independent probe and to re-conduct the examination for the subjects if the leak is confirmed.

Petitioner Aman Singh Yadav, the candidate who appeared for the Sociology paper on June 30, sought interim protection against the declaration of results pending an independent investigation into the allegations that the question paper was leaked and commercially circulated hours before the examination.

The plea said the petitioner had already given a representation to the NTA regarding serious errors in the paper and also on the leak, but no response had been received yet.

It also sought a direction for an independent CBI or SIT probe into the alleged leak of the question papers.

The CBI was represented by standing counsel Premtosh Mishra.

In a public notice, the NTA said it had received several complaints about multiple errors in the question papers of the three subjects and formed a committee to look into these issues.

The issue has drawn fresh flak for the NTA, which has announced an overhaul of the exam system.