Supreme Court directs NBE to hold NEET PG in one shift

New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Friday directed the National Board of Examination that it should not hold the NEET PG, scheduled on June 15, in two shifts, as there would not be a level playing field for the candidates.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sanjay Kumar and N V Anjaria said holding the examinations in two shifts would cause arbitrariness and the normalisation process can't be applied in a routine manner.

The court said the question papers in the two shifts can never be of the same difficulty level.

"We are not ready to accept that in the entire country and considering the technological advancements in this country, the examining body could not find enough centres to hold the examination in one shift," the bench said.

The court said the authorities may apply for extension of time if they find that they are not able to identify the centres and conduct the examination on June 15.

Petitioner Aditi and others challenged the conduct of NEET-PG exam in two shifts as the move has the potential for unfairness due to varying difficulty levels between shifts.

The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for Postgraduate courses (NEET-PG), 2025, is scheduled to be conducted on June 15, in two shifts on a computer-based platform. The results will be declared by July 15.

Earlier on May 5, the court had sought a response from the NBE, National Medical Council (NMC), and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on the said plea.

The court had on May 22 in another plea, pronounced a verdict issuing a slew of directions to stop seat-blocking in NEET-PG counselling and directed publication of raw scores, answer keys, and normalisation formulae of the exam.