The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday ordered that the results of the 2017 National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) be declared by June 26, thereby overruling a stay the Madras high court had issued+ .

The Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE), which conducts NEET, said it will declare the NEET results by June 26 as per the SC order. The results were originally scheduled to be released June 8.

The top court on Monday also directed all high courts not to entertain any petition on the 2017 NEET.

The Madras HC had on May 24 stayed the declaration of results on finding that while the NEET question papers for nearly 10.5 lakh students who took the examination in English and Hindi were same, they were different for those who appeared in the test in eight other vernacular languages.

Last week, additional solicitor general Maninder Singh sought an urgent hearing on the CBSE’s appeal before an SC bench. He said a delay in declaring the NEET results would not only create anxiety among a vast section of the student community, it would also put in jeopardy the timely completion of admissions to undergraduate courses – MBBS and BDS – in government and private medical colleges. The admissions schedule at these government colleges has already been fixed by the apex court.

The CBSE said it decided to make the question papers in languages other than in English and Hindi+ to ensure that in the event of any leaks, it would not have to cancel the entire examination.