Can't Put Careers Of 2 Lacs Students In Jeopardy At Behest Of Five Petitioners: Apex Court Dismisses Plea To Postpone NEET PG 2024

The Supreme Court, today, dismissed the petition seeking the postponement of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Postgraduate) Examination, 2024, (NEET PG 2024) which is scheduled to be held on August 11, 2024.

The Bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra said, "At the behest of 5 students, we can't put the career of 2 lakh students in jeopardy. Let there be certainty."

Senior Advocate Sanjay Hegde, appearing for the petitioners, submitted that there are students who have been allocated cities that are inconvenient for them to reach and further seeking details of the formula for normalisation of the four sets of question papers.

CJI said, "There are already so many problems in the country...now to reschedule the NEET PG...Now a days people just come alright just postpone this exam."

CJI also remarked, "We are not academicians..as a matter of principle we will not reschedule...two lacs students and four lacs parents will suffer..At behest of five petitioners, we put the careers of two lacs students in jeopardy"

The Petition, filed by AOR Anas Tanwir, stated, "It is submitted that more than two lakh students are scheduled to appear in the aforesaid examination. The examination is scheduled to be held in 185 test cities therefore resulting in the non-availability of train tickets as well as hiking of air fares due to dynamic pricing thereby making it almost impossible for a large number of students to reach their test centres."

The Petition also stated that there is a likelihood that one batch of candidates may face a more difficult question paper than the other batch, therefore, the formula for normalisation should be disclosed before the conduct of the examinations thereby ruling out any fear of arbitrariness.

The Petitioner prayed for a direction to the National Board of Examination of Medical Sciences to reschedule the NEET-PG, 2024 Exam and to conduct the exam in a single batch to ensure a uniform and fair testing environment for all candidates.

Cause Title: Vishal Soren and Ors. v. National Board of Examination in Medical Sciences & Anr. (W.P.(C) No. 504/2024)