'Cannot jeopardise careers of 2 lakh...': SC dismisses plea for postponement of NEET-PG exam

New Delhi, Aug 9: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a plea seeking directions to the National Board of Examinations (NBE) to reschedule the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET)-PG 2024, which is scheduled for August 11.

Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde, representing the petitioners, submitted before a bench, headed by CJI D.Y. Chandrachud, that administration cut down the number of examination centres for the NEET-PG exam from 1,200 to 500 against the backdrop of allegations of paper leak and other irregularities in the conduct of NEET-UG exam this year.

Due to the decrease in the number of centres, the NEET-PG will be conducted in two shifts, said Hegde, flagging the risks arising from the normalisation process.

Declining to exercise its discretionary jurisdiction, the bench, also comprising Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, remarked that the examination where two lakh students are going to appear cannot be halted at the instance of four petitioners.

As it dismissed the plea, the apex court said: "We will not reschedule or pass any orders. There are 2 lakh students and close to 4 lakh parents who would weep if we touch this matter. At the behest of four-five petitioners, we cannot jeopardise the careers of two lakh students. We will not do it."

On Thursday, CJI Chandrachud directed the registry to urgently list the matter for hearing after advocate Anas Tanwir, representing petitioners, mentioned the plea for urgent listing.

The petitioners sought the postponement of the exam on the ground that candidates have been allocated cities which are highly inconvenient for them to reach and the formula for normalisation is unknown to them. It also sought details and disclosure of the formula for the normalisation of the four sets of question papers to eliminate any possibility of arbitrariness in the process.

"The examination will be conducted in two batches...There is a likelihood that one batch of candidates may face a more difficult question paper than the other batch. Therefore, it is prayed that the formula for normalisation should be disclosed before the conduct of examinations thereby ruling out any fear of arbitrariness," it said.

Further, the plea stated that the allocation of test cities was made on July 31 and the specific centres are scheduled to be declared on August 8, and given such short notice, it has become highly difficult for students to make arrangements for their travel to their specific cities.

"That more than two lakh students are scheduled to appear in the examination. The examination is scheduled to be held in 185 test cities, therefore, resulting in the non-availability of train tickets as well as the hiking of airfares due to dynamic pricing, thereby making it almost impossible for a large number of students to reach their test centres," it added.

On June 22, the NEET-PG, which was scheduled to be held on the very next day, was postponed by the Union Health Ministry in "best interests of the students and to maintain the sanctity of the examination process". Last year, the top court had declined to entertain petitions seeking postponement of the NEET-PG 2023 exam.