Allahabad HC junks plea against NEET PG 2025 reduced cutoff percentile
Allahabad High Court
Prayagraj: The Allahabad High Court has recently dismissed a PIL challenging a decision of the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) to allow the counselling of SC, ST and OBC students who scored minus 40 out of 800 in the NEET PG 2025 exam.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition has been filed in the Allahabad High Court challenging the recent decision of the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) to lower the NEET PG cutoff percentile.
NBE in a notice dated 13.01.2026, reduced the minimum qualifying percentile cut-off for counselling of the third round of National Eligibility-Entrance Test Postgraduate (NEET-PG) 2025-2026 for various categories of candidates.
As per the revised qualifying percentiles for NEET-PG 2025, for the academic session 2025-2026, for the General/EWS, General PwBD, SC/ST/OBC(Including PwBD of SC/ST/OBC) categories, the revised qualifying cut-off is 7th, 5th, and 0th percentile, respectively. Therefore, the revised cut-off score after lowering the cut-off percentile is 103 for General/EWS, 90 for General PwBD, and -40 for SC/ST/OBC(Including PwBD of SC/ST/OBC) categories, respectively.
Also Read:PIL filed in Allahabad HC challenging NEET PG 2025 reduced cutoff percentile
The petitioner had termed the move of the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) unconstitutional and violative of Article 16 of the Constitution that guarantees equal opportunity in public employment.
The plea challenged the decision on the ground that a substantial reduction in cut-off marks for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Postgraduate) 2025, or NEET-PG, will undermine the sanctity of a merit-based selection process.
The PIL added that after more than 18,000 seats remained vacant following the second round of counselling, the NBEMS "drastically" reduced the qualifying criteria, setting the cut-off score at minus 40 out of 800 for the SC/ST/OBC category.
The petition also pointed out that in the general (EWS) category, the cut-off has been reduced from 276 to 103, whereas in the general-PwBD category, it has been slashed from 255 to 90.
In the SC/ST/OBC category, the same was reduced from 235 to -40, which, the PIL plea argued, will adversely impact public health and patient safety, both matters of paramount public concern that involve a high-level of academic precision, the petitioner claimed.
The plea also claimed that the quality of doctors who do not have the minimum threshold to qualify for the examination would affect the right to health and life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.
Now, considering the matter, a two-judge bench of Chief Justice Arun Bhansali and Justice Kshitij Shailendra dismissed the petition filed by advocate Abhinav Gaur.
The court was informed that the Delhi High Court had already dismissed a PIL on the issue, saying it was a policy matter in which the court had nothing to do. It was also informed that another petition in the matter was pending before the Supreme Cour, reports PTI
