The Delhi High Court has issued notice to the National Testing Agency (NTA) on a candidate’s challenge to the NEET-UG 2026 final answer key and directed the matter to be listed on August 3, 2026 before Justice Jasmeet Singh.

The petition seeks to bring the dispute within the limited judicial-review exception applicable to answer-key cases. It contends that the Court is not required to choose between competing expert opinions, but only to compare the disputed statement with the prescribed NCERT textbook and determine whether the answer is demonstrably incorrect.

The dispute concerns the omission of the qualifier modern from a statement linking the emergence of Homo sapiens to the period between 75,000 and 10,000 years ago. According to the plea, the NCERT text attributes that period specifically to modern Homo sapiens, while separately tracing the origin of Homo sapiens to Africa.

Since the other statement in the question was also incorrect, the petitioner claims that the NTA selected the wrong option. It is further alleged that her objection, supported by the prescribed textbook, was rejected without reasons.

Relying on Om Prakash Verma v. National Testing Agency and other judgment passed by the Supreme Court, the petitioner has sought correction of the answer key and consequential revision of her score and rank. The disputed evaluation has resulted in a net loss of five marks.