A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra stated that they could not jeopardize the futures of two lakh students for the sake of five students.
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday (9th Aug) rejected a plea to postpone the NEET-PG examination scheduled for August 11. The plea argued that some candidates were assigned exam cities that are difficult for them to reach.
READ ALSO: [NEET PG 2024] Petition Filed in Supreme Court to Postpone Exam
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra stated that they could not jeopardize the futures of two lakh students for the sake of five students.
“How can we postpone such an exam? Mr. Sanjay Hegde, nowadays people just come asking to delay exams. It’s not a perfect world. We are not academic experts,”
the bench commented.
The bench further emphasized that rescheduling the exam would cause distress to a large number of candidates and their families.
“We cannot put the careers of so many candidates at risk. We do not know who is behind these petitions”
the bench said.
Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde, representing the petitioners, argued that the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Postgraduate) (NEET-PG) should be rescheduled because of the difficulty posed by having exams in both the morning and afternoon on the same day.
READ ALSO: SC Dismisses Petitions on NEET-PG 2021 and 2022 Answer Key and Question Paper Release
The plea also mentioned that the exam cities were only assigned on July 31, with specific centers to be announced on August 8. The exam was initially set for June 23 but was postponed by the Union Health Ministry due to concerns about alleged irregularities in other competitive exams.
Meanwhile, last month, an MCC notice indicated that counselling for NEET-UG 2024 would begin on August 14, with registration expected to start in the first week of August. Dr. B Srinivas, Secretary of the National Medical Commission (NMC), advised candidates to check the MCC website for updates.
Counselling will be conducted for the allotment of approximately 1.10 lakh MBBS seats across 710 medical colleges in the country, along with 21,000 BDS seats, as well as Ayush and nursing seats.
Background
The petitioner in this case argues that many candidates for the NEET-PG 2024 exam have been assigned cities that are highly inconvenient for them to access. The petitioner notes that the allocation of test cities was finalized on July 31, 2024, with specific test centers to be announced on August 8, 2024. This short notice, while intended to prevent examination malpractices, has made it challenging for students to arrange their travel to these locations.
The petition highlights that over two lakh students are set to take the exam across 185 test cities, leading to issues such as unavailable train tickets and increased airfares due to dynamic pricing. This situation makes it nearly impossible for many students to reach their designated test centers.
In addition to requesting a postponement of the exam, the petitioner seeks the disclosure of the normalization formula used for the four sets of question papers to prevent any perceived arbitrariness in the process. The petition expresses concern that conducting the exam in two batches without revealing the normalization formula might result in discrepancies, potentially making one batch face a more difficult exam than the other.
The petitioner’s requests are as follows:
- Reschedule the NEET-PG 2024 Examination: Request to move the exam date to alleviate current difficulties.
- Conduct the Exam in a Single Batch: Request for a single testing session to ensure fairness and consistency for all candidates.
- Rectify Exam Centre Allocation Issues: Request to address and correct the allocation of test centers, ensuring a more equitable and transparent process with locations closer to candidates’ residences.
Similarly, another petition has been submitted to the Supreme Court requesting the postponement of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for Postgraduates (NEET PG 2024), which scheduled for August 11.
The plea, filed by Vishal Soren, highlights the difficulties candidates face in reaching their exam centers, as many have been assigned locations in cities that are challenging for them to access.
Additionally, the exam scheduled to be conducted in two batches, and the formula for normalization remains unknown to the candidates, causing further concern, according to the petition.
The petitioner requested that the exam be postponed until the petition is resolved.
