Supreme Court Issues Notice On Ashwini Upadhyay’s Plea Over NEET Paper Leak
Supreme Court issued notice on Ashwini Upadhyay’s plea over NEET paper leak
The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice on a writ petition filed by advocate and petitioner-in-person Ashwini Upadhyay concerning the NEET paper leak.
The Bench of Justices P.S. Narasimha and Alok Aradhe was hearing the petition.
During the hearing, Upadhyay informed the Bench that he was not pressing Prayer A, stating that a subsequent amendment had rendered the prayer infructuous. He submitted that Prayers B, C and D remained for consideration.
At one point, Justice P.S. Narasimha noted that Upadhyay was appearing as a party-in-person while still wearing his advocate’s bands, and reminded him to follow courtroom discipline.
Upadhyay responded: “I rushed from the other court.”
The Bench thereafter said, “We will issue notice,” and proceeded to issue notice on the petition.
The petition relates to allegations concerning the NEET paper leak and seeks reliefs in connection with the issue.
About the PIL
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 v. Union of India and Ors.
Bench: Justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe
Hearing Date: August 18, 2026