Supreme Court Expresses Reluctance To Hear Plea Seeking Time Bound Investigation Into Paper Leak Cases

The Supreme Court has expressed its reluctance to entertain a public interest litigation seeking a “Standard Questionnaire and Special Investigation Procedure” to ensure time-bound investigations in cases involving question paper leaks.

A bench comprising Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe orally remarked, “It's not a matter for us”. After Senior Advocate Vikas Singh, insisted Court to hear the matter once, the bench deferred the case to be heard after one week after it has heard the NEET petitions.

The plea filed by Advocate Ashwini Upadhyay also seeks direction for assessment of entire property of perpetrators and their family members, use of the provisions of prevention of corruption act, money laundering act, benami property act and black money act; and, confiscation of movable and immovable property of every perpetrator and his family member, directly and indirectly involved in paper leak.

Citing the recent NEET paper leak which affected lakhs of students, the PIL states, "Prior to this, a number of paper leaks have already happened, and have been enumerated within this petition. The continued failure of the authorities to prevent, investigate, and effectively prosecute those responsible has resulted in an ongoing violation of the fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 16 and 21 of the Constitution. The cause of action continues to subsist as the consequences of the paper leak remain unremedied, affected candidates continue to suffer prejudice, and no effective safeguards have been implemented to prevent recurrence."

Court has been told that students continue to face financial hardships, loss of educational & employment opportunities, grave psychological issues, increasing rates of suicide, along with burden of unpaid loans.

Referring to the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, which has been in force since June ,2024, the plea states the leaks have continued to rise, while the actual masterminds have continued to evade the scrutiny of the investigating agencies. There are a number of lacunas in the Act, which leads to its non-enforcement, the plea submits:

a) No time-bound investigation and trial of paper-leaks;

b) No Standard Investigation Procedure (SIP) for paper-leaks;

c) No assessment of perpetrators to determine previous liabilities for paper-leaks, the proceeds of which were used to acquire benami properties, or siphoned off through money laundering;

d) No confiscation of property acquired as the proceeds of the crime;

e) No usage of Deception Detection tests (DDT), to locate the actual masterminds behind the paper-leaks.

The plea cites 12 instances of paper leaks at national level and 15 instances at the state level.

Case Title: Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay vs Union of India and Ors

Bench: Justices Narasimha and Aradhe

Hearing Date: July 21, 2026