The petitioners have requested the court to direct the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) to hold the exam in a single shift, not in two, to make the process uniform, transparent, and fair for all candidates.
New Delhi, May 5 – The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Central Government and other authorities to respond to a petition challenging the decision to conduct the NEET-PG 2025 examination in two different shifts.
The exam is currently scheduled for June 15, 2025.
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A bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan issued a notice and said, “Issue notice, returnable one week,” while agreeing to hear the plea filed by seven medical professionals.
The petitioners have requested the court to direct the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) to hold the exam in a single shift, not in two, to make the process uniform, transparent, and fair for all candidates.
They also demanded that the number of examination centres across the country be increased so that the exam can be conducted in one go for all aspirants.
The Supreme Court sent notices to the NBEMS, the National Medical Commission, and the Central Government, asking them to respond to the petition within a week.
The NEET-PG exam is held to admit students to postgraduate and postdoctoral medical courses. It is conducted by NBEMS for awarding Diplomate of National Board (DNB), Doctorate of National Board (DrNB), and Fellow of National Board (FNB) in various medical specialities.
The petition challenged a notification released by the NBEMS on April 16, which officially announced that NEET-PG 2025 will be conducted in two shifts on June 15.
Advocates Sukriti Bhatnagar and Abhisht Hela represented the petitioners before the court.
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The petition highlighted several concerns related to conducting the exam in two different shifts.
It stated, “Holding the examination in two shifts has the potential for unfairness due to varying difficulty levels between shifts, the challenges of a transparent and accurate normalisation process and the increased stress and anxiety for candidates.”
The plea explained that even a small difference in marks could affect a student’s rank drastically.
It stated, “Maintain just, fair, reasonable and equitable grounds of competition for all the candidates as a difference of even 0.1 marks in NEET-PG examination can alter the rank of a candidate by hundreds and thousands.”
It added that NEET-PG covers a vast syllabus with multiple medical specialisations, and such an exam should ideally be held at the same time for all students.
The petition argued that having two shifts goes against Article 14 of the Constitution, which guarantees equality before the law, because fairness becomes almost impossible to maintain due to the lack of transparency in the normalisation process. It also claimed a violation of Article 21, which protects a person’s right to a fair and reasonable procedure, including in examinations.
The plea said, “It also violates Article 21 of the candidates, as the process violates the basic right to fair examination.”
The petitioners also pointed out that the same issue occurred during NEET-PG 2024, which was held in two shifts.
They said, “There is a likelihood that one batch of candidates may face a more difficult question paper than the other batch as happened in the case of NEET-PG 2024, where it was alleged that the question paper in the second shift was easier.”
They also stated that multiple shifts create additional problems such as moderation, scaling, and normalisation of scores, which can result in unfair advantages or disadvantages.
The plea said, “This results in violation of the right to equality and makes the whole process vitiated and non-transparent, leaving an itch in the hearts and minds of meritorious candidates.”
To ensure transparency, the petition also asked for a direction to NBEMS to publish the question papers and answer keys on its official website after the results are announced.
In conclusion, the petitioners are seeking:
- A fresh notification declaring NEET-PG 2025 to be conducted in a single shift.
- An increase in the number of exam centres to accommodate all candidates in one session.
- The publication of question papers and answer keys to uphold transparency and fairness.
Case Name: Dr. ADITI & ORS v. NATIONAL BOARD OF EXAMINATION IN MEDICAL SCIENCES & ORS| DIARY NO. – 22918/2025
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