Supreme Court Postpones NEET-PG Exam Hearing to December 10

New Delhi, Dec 3 (NationPress) The Supreme Court has postponed the hearing regarding a petition that questions the transparency in the administration of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET)-PG 2024. A bench consisting of Justices B.R. Gavai and K.V. Viswanathan was unable to address the case due to time constraints.

According to the computerized case status available on the apex court's website, the hearing is now tentatively scheduled for December 10.

The petitioners, who are aspirants of the NEET-PG, have argued that changes such as the introduction of two examination shifts, the normalisation method, and the alteration of the tie-breaker criteria just three days prior to the exam had detrimental effects on students.

They assert that the NEET-PG information bulletin can be modified at the discretion of the authorities, with no established rules or regulations governing the examination process. The petition challenges the National Board of Examinations (NBE) decision to withhold question papers, answer keys, and candidates' response sheets for this year's exam.

The petition claims that there is a significant lack of transparency in the examination process, as students were not provided with any documents that could help them assess their performance. They pointed out that neither the question paper nor the candidates' response sheets or an answer key were made available, and only a scorecard was issued.

Filed by advocate Parul Shukla, the petition emphasized that, unlike in previous years where candidates received their total scores alongside the number of correctly and incorrectly answered questions, the results announced on August 23 this year did not include their overall scores.

According to the petition, "The method/manner in which examination under the NEET PG 2024 is conducted by the respondents (authorities) is manifestly arbitrary and contrary to the principles of transparency and fairness in state action as outlined in Article 14 of the Constitution of India."

It was also noted that the NEET-PG examination has traditionally been a single shift and single-day event to maintain uniform standards and fairness.

The petition underlined a "serious patent defect in the conduct of the examination," necessitating corrective measures to ensure a clean, transparent, and effective examination system that identifies the most qualified candidates.

Furthermore, the NEET-PG is a multidisciplinary exam, where an individual's rank plays a crucial role in determining their choice of course and field. Any minor discrepancies in scores could hinder numerous candidates from pursuing specializations in their desired fields.

The petitioners have also submitted an application seeking the suspension of the ongoing NEET-PG counseling process for admissions.