NEET PG 2024: SC Seeks response from NBE on Last Minute Change of Exam Pattern
New Delhi: While considering a plea seeking measures to ensure increased transparency in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Postgraduate (NEET-PG) exam, the Supreme Court today i.e. September 20 expressed displeasure over the last-minute changes in the exam pattern by the National Board of Examinations (NBE).
Terming it to be "unusual", the Apex Court bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud, Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra issued notice to the NBE and Union Government, asking them to file their counter within a week.
The matter has been listed for further hearing on September 27, 2024. A similar plea that alleged serious instances of discrepancies in the NEET-PG 2021 scores and lack of transparency in tallying scorecards is pending before the top court bench.
After several controversies, NBE conducted the NEET-PG 2024 exam on August 11 and its results were declared on August 23. Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that recently the NEET-PG 2024 candidates filed a plea before the Supreme Court pointing out how the exam format was changed just one month before the scheduled date and the exam was converted into a two (2) session examination with separate papers for each session which is against NBE's guidelines of having one common examination.
Also Read: Supreme Court Seeks NBE's Response on Plea Seeking Disclosure of Answer Keys
Previously, the petitioner's counsel pointed out that NBE has not released either the question papers or the answer keys. She further added that without knowing the correct answers, it would not be possible for the candidates to assess their performances transparently. She submitted that when the scorecard was released, it did not tally accurately for many candidates.
Regarding the issue of non-disclosure of exam question-answers, the plea stated, "There is a clear lack of transparency in conduct of examinations of NEET PG 2024 since none of the documents which can allow a student to check his/her performance are supplied by the Respondents i.e. neither the (a) question paper, nor (b) the Response sheet filled in by candidates, nor (c) Answer Key is supplied to the students, and merely a score card has been provided along with list of attempted correctly/attempted wrongly sections. The students on perusal of the score cards have found discrepancy in the total number of questions that they attempted which are found to be different than what is stated in the score cards issued to them. Thus, there is a basic flaw in the conduct of the examinations which goes to the root of the matter. However, there is no redressal of the above, and an unfettered power has been vested in the Respondents to conduct examinations, without the necessary checks and balances."
The petitioners also raised grievances against the new marks normalisation method. On this issue, the plea mentioned, "A new procedure for normalization of scores (based on a system applied in AIIMS which has a different kind of paper) was introduced by the Respondents for calculation of scores obtained by candidates in Session 1 and session 2 and for tie breaking it would be counted to the 7th decimal, which is completely arbitrary as two classes of candidates have been created without any reasonable nexus with object being sought to be achieved i.e. getting the best suited candidates their opted specializations."
"The normalisation procedure has completely altered the ranks that students expected to obtain based on their performance in the examination and it has led to clumping of students at each decimal, which would not have happened in case of counting of actual marks. Thus, the specialities will be exhausted on account of some superficial criteria prescribed by the Respondents, which is not reflective of the best candidates available," it added.
As per the latest media report by Live Law, the counsel for petitioners, Senior Advocate Vibha Makhija argued today that the new marks normalization policy that the NBE introduced three days before the exam as 'knee-jerk' reaction. She also stressed that no regulations are in place by NBE to ascertain how the exams are to be conducted. Everything depends on a single information bulletin which can be modified at the 'whims and fancies' of the authorities, she argued.
Taking serious note of these contentions, the CJI asked the NBE's counsel why the exam pattern was changed just 3 days before the scheduled exam. "They are saying you have not framed regulations, everything goes by the brochure and three days before the exam, the entire pattern of the exam is changed how can you do all this?" the bench asked.
Responding to this, the counsel for NBE replied that they have not done anything unusual. However, the CJI observed in response, "It is very unusual! Three days before the examinations? students will have a meltdown!"
Issuing notice in the matter, the Apex Court bench directed NBE and the Union Government to file their counter within a week.
Previous Plea before Supreme Court:
This is not the first time that the doctors are demanding the release of NEET PG answer keys. Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that back in 2022, the doctors had filed pleas before the Supreme Court alleging serious discrepancies in the NEET-PG 2022 exam. In the plea, the MBBS graduates challenged the decision of the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBE) of not releasing the answer keys and question paper for the exam.
The doctors had also requested the court to set up a High Power Committee to examine the instances of alleged discrepancies in the scores so that fairness and transparency in the evaluation mechanism could be ensured. Apart from this, the plea further requested the court to frame guidelines for publishing question papers and answer keys after the examination.
It had also sought direction upon NBE for uploading individual OMR answer sheets in login account along with the question paper and the corresponding answer key, immediately after the examination and provide the candidates with an answer key and question paper for the exam, especially when they file an RTI application.
However, earlier in June 2024, the Apex Court bench dismissed the plea after taking note of the passage of time since the conduction of the NEET PG 2022 examination.
Also Read: Supreme Court junks Plea Alleging Discrepancies in NEET PG 2022 Scores
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