NEET PG 2025: 95,913 candidates became eligible after cutoff reduction, NBE tells Supreme Court 'it had no role'

New Delhi: On the reduction in the NEET PG 2025 qualifying percentile, the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court of India explaining that it had no role in deciding to lower the cut-off.

In a counter-affidavit filed before the top court, NBEMS clarified that the decision to reduce the qualifying percentile was taken by the Directorate General of Health Services under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the National Medical Commission (NMC). The examination body said its responsibility is limited to conducting the NEET-PG exam, preparing the results, and handing them over to the counselling authority.

The Board also informed the top court that 95,913 additional candidates have become eligible for NEET-PG 2025 counselling after the qualifying cut-off percentile was reduced. It submitted that any interference at this stage would directly affect these candidates.

Also read- Supreme Court issues notice to NBE, NMC on plea challenging NEET PG 2025 reduced cutoff

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the Supreme Court of India asked the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) to respond why it sharply reduced the qualifying cut-off percentiles for NEET PG 2025, stating that the Court must be satisfied that the decision was not taken for any 'devious reason'.

Questioning the basis of the Board’s decision, the Division Bench of Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe observed that the issue requires balancing two important concerns. The Bench said that on one hand, there is a concern that medical seats should not remain vacant, while on the other hand, lowering standards excessively may affect the quality of postgraduate medical education.

While hearing petitions challenging the January 13, 2026, notice issued by NBEMS, which reduced the minimum qualifying percentile for the third round of NEET-PG 2025 counselling, the Bench remarked, "The Court will examine whether the decision taken was drastically wrong."

"Our conscience has to be satisfied that there is no devious reason, that's all," said the court while directing NBEMS to submit an affidavit explaining the rationale behind the decision

Following this, the NBE filed a counter-affidavit in this regard.

According to the affidavit, on January 9, 2026, the Health Ministry informed NBEMS about the decision to reduce the qualifying percentile for the third round of counselling. In compliance with the decision, NBEMS revised the cut-off and published the updated results on January 13, reports Live Law

The Board emphasised that it only conducts the NEET-PG examination and forwards the final results to the concerned counselling authority, which is the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC). It stated clearly that it had “no role whatsoever” in deciding to lower the qualifying percentile for NEET PG 2025.

NBEMS also informed the Court that after the cut-off reduction, 95,913 additional candidates became eligible to participate in NEET-PG 2025 counselling. It argued that any order passed by the Supreme Court would directly affect these candidates and therefore no decision should be taken without hearing them.

In its affidavit, NBEMS submitted a detailed category-wise chart showing how many candidates became newly eligible after the revised criteria:

The Board further relied on a recent judgment of the Delhi High Court in Sanchit Seth vs National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences & Ors. (W.P. (C) No. 848/2026), where the High Court dismissed a plea challenging the reduction of the cut-off percentile.

The matter is currently under consideration before the Supreme Court, which is hearing petitions challenging the decision to lower the NEET-PG 2025 qualifying percentile.

United Doctors Front (UDF) National President Dr. Lakshya Mittal, along with others, had approached the Apex Court of India seeking directions to quash the NBEMS notification and issue directions to restore and protect minimum qualifying standards in postgraduate medical education, calling the "arbitrary and unprecedented reduction of qualifying cut-off percentiles for NEET-PG 2025–26, including zero and negative scores".

The PIL, registered as Diary No. 3085/2026, has been filed under Article 32 of the Constitution of India through Advocate Satyam Singh Rajput, along with Advocate Adarsh Singh and Advocate-on-Record Neema.

Filing the plea, UDF challenged the notification dated 13.01.2026 issued by NBEMS, which has drastically diluted the minimum qualifying standards for postgraduate medical admissions.

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.

The petition led by the doctor highlighted that allowing candidates with abnormally low or negative scores to qualify for postgraduate medical training poses a serious threat to patient safety, public health, and the integrity of the medical profession. It has been argued that the NBE's decision is arbitrary, unconstitutional, and violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India.

Further, the PIL has submitted that such dilution of merit is contrary to settled judicial principles and violates the statutory mandate under the National Medical Commission Act, 2019, which obligates regulatory bodies to maintain minimum standards in medical education.

Also read- Must be no 'devious reason': Supreme Court directs NBE to explain NEET PG 2025 reduced cutoff