The Maharashtra Higher and Technical Education Minister, Chandrakant Patil, recently stated that the NEET UG re-exam scheduled for June 21 will delay the admission
process and the academic session of the state’s pharmacy and engineering colleges, according to reports. The Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell was planning to wrap up the admissions by June-end; however, the fresh examination has led to a change in the admission schedule. The admissions to nine engineering branches and 15 per cent pharmacy seats reserved under the all-India quota depend on NEET scores. Therefore, until the re-exam is held and the results are declared, the state cannot proceed with admissions. He elucidated that engineering admissions cannot begin because medical aspirants who fail to perform well in NEET end up choosing engineering later. Patil made this revelation while announcing rules to regulate college fee collection and expand financial assistance for female students pursuing higher education. Patil assured students that colleges would not be allowed to charge separately in the name of development or laboratory fees. Each fee will be merged into a single category and will be reviewed by the Fee Regulatory Authority. This year, NEET UG 2026 was held on May 3, 2026, across 551 Indian cities and 14 overseas centres. Days later, NTA put out an official tweet scrapping the undergraduate medical entrance test, affecting over 22 lakh aspirants. The decision to cancel the largest entrance test was taken following an internal inquiry by NTA, which discovered that the Chemistry and Biology papers had been compromised, as most questions matched the content of the ‘guess paper’ circulated among hundreds of students. Subsequently, a CBI probe was launched to identify the offenders. Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who remained silent after the exam cancellation, later hosted a press meet to announce major changes to this year’s test. Also Read | CBI Probe Reveals NEET UG 2026 Accused Had Access to Botany, Zoology Questions
