NEET PG Supreme Court Hearing: With Double Shift Concerns Over, What will be Discussed Next?
Supreme Court of India
New Delhi: The Supreme Court's recent ruling directing the National Board of Examinations (NBE) to conduct the National Eligibility-Entrance Test Postgraduate (NEET-PG) Examination in a single shift came as major relief for the aspirants who were concerned about the double shift exam pattern and especially the normalisation method.
Now that NBE has announced that the NEET PG Examination will be conducted on August 03, 2025, the aspirants are waiting for the next Supreme Court hearing when the other concerns regarding the transparency in the PG medical entrance examination will be discussed.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that multiple pleas were filed before the Apex Court addressing different aspects of the NEET PG Examination. Apart from the challenge against the two-shift examination pattern and the normalisation method, the candidates from NEET PG 2024 and NEET PG 2025 had also demanded transparency and fairness in the exam. Their demands also included the release of the NEET PG question paper and answer keys.
Earlier, while announcing the judgment on the two-shift exam pattern, the Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and NK Anjaria had also addressed the other grievances raised by the petitioners regarding NBE's refusal to provide answer sheets and question papers despite court orders.
Also Read: Supreme Court Defers NEET PG Answer Key plea hearing to July 15
Clarifying that the bench was not examining that issue at that stage, the Court had further added that the issue related to the second relief claim would be considered after the examinations are concluded.
Commenting on what may be discussed in the next Supreme Court hearing, Dr. Dhruv Chauhan, a health activist and also the National Spokesperson of Indian Doctors' Association Junior Doctors' Network (IMA-JDN) explained to Medical Dialogues, "The aspirants wanted only one thing- that is transparency in the exam and a single shift. Now, we have already won the single shift case. Now, the second thing that is left is the transparency- that is the release of the answer keys post the exam. So that the students can know where they are wrong or right- this is what is important for the transparency."
Over the years, NBE has opposed the doctors' demands for the release of answer keys, citing the limited number of questions available at the PG medical entrance test level.
However, Dr. Chauhan refuted such claims, adding that "While the NBE says that they do not disclose the answer keys because they lack questions and answers for every year, that is not true. There are millions of questions that can be made if somebody is very dedicated to do that."
"In the next hearing, we are looking for clearance of the issue of transparency and the release of the answer key issue from the NBE side. We want them to issue a circular that clears the misunderstanding of the students that they will declare the answer keys," he added.
When asked about the pending issue regarding transparency in NEET PG exam, Advocate Tanvi Dubey, who is representing the petitioners in a plea seeking transparency in the PG entrance test, told Medical Dialogues, "As regards the second issue, which is a key issue for transparency, that is release of answer key, that still remains pending. In fact, one of our petitions was filed in 2021 seeking that the answer key should be released in the NEET PG Examination because this is one of the exams, which is a national level exam, and all the other exams, like CLAT or UPSC they all release the answer key, unlike NEET PG. It's very crucial for transparency in any examination process that candidates should have some record of what they have written and in NEET UG also they do get their scanned OMRs, they do get their answer keys. So, there is some record available."
"Unlike other exams, NEET-PG is one of the only exams which does not provide any such transparency mechanism. That is a very big question, which is pending and going to be decided by the Supreme Court. And one of the pleas taken by us was also that if for example a candidate is scoring or expecting 100 out of 100 and he gets zero out of 100, there is no record for him to claim that I really worked for 100 out of 100 or I really attempted all the 100 questions. So, if they disclose the answer key, that will make the mechanism more rigid and more transparent," she further added.
"So, that's a big question which will be decided. Now the hearing is on 14th of July and the Supreme Court is going to hear these questions. So, as I said that it's a very crucial question which will be decided by the Apex Court and it's still pending and going to be decided shortly," Advocate Dubey mentioned.
While commenting on the NEET PG postponement issue, Dr. Rohan Krishnan, the Chief Patron of FAIMA Doctors Association and a health activist, said, "It is very sad that NEET PG has to be postponed again, and it is completely the fault of the National Board of Examination because the FAIMA doctors' association continuously told them that two shift exam will not be standing in the court and two shift examination for mere 2.5 lakh students is something which is unacceptable. And we can comfortably conduct NEET PG in a single shift. The students were losing faith in the normalisation pattern and everything that NBE does in the two shift examination, and there was a lot of confusion among students, which led to complaints and anguish that there are some kind of malafide intentions of the National Board of Examinations in conducting two shifts. That is why doctors went to court, and the court has finally given directions to conduct it in one shift."
"Now my whole point of question is that for an examination, why do we need to do so much work and students need to go to court for an examination which could have happened on the specified date? If NBE had listened to experts such as the FAIMA Doctors Association, Indian Medical Association, and all the medical bodies which were dealing with the issue. So this shows that National Board of Examinations is not functioning properly. We have crossed five years from COVID pandemic. 2020 was the COVID pandemic and now it is 2025 and still one examination has not happened in the medical field which has not been postponed by the National Board of Examinations. So it is something that we must ponder upon and see what is to be done in that case," he further mentioned.
Dr. Krishnan also highlighted that "Now the momentum of the students is also getting affected." Pointing out that working students left their jobs for 3_4 months with a plan of joining back to work from July, Dr. Krishnan highlighted that such students cannot join back for another two months now. "This is also something that affects the mental state of the students, mental health of the students.
"Studying for postgraduate medical entrance exam has a holistic approach. It is a very tough competition. You have to study for 18-20 hours," he said, further highlighting that due to the exam getting delayed the entire process starting from counselling to selection of college to admission and commencement of classes, will get delayed.
