NEET PG answer key disclosure mechanism challenged- SC likely to hear transparency matter next week
Supreme Court of India
New Delhi: The Supreme Court is likely to hear the NEET PG transparency matter next week, as a new plea has been filed before the Apex Court bench challenging the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) notification over exam transparency.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that a group of NEET-PG 2025 aspirants filed a plea before the Supreme Court challenging the "corrective notice" issued by the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) on August 21.
The plea claimed that the new disclosure mechanism of answer keys, as announced by NBEMS, is "opaque, unintelligible and incapable of meaningful verification."
In the notice dated 21.08.2025, NBEMS mentioned that the sequence of questions asked within a section of the Question paper of NEET-PG 2025 is shuffled for different candidates, and the order of four options for a question are also shuffled for different candidates. Therefore, NBE had decided that the questions, correct answer key and responses marked shall be displayed as per the sequence in Master set of Question Paper used for NEET-PG 2025.
When the matter came up for hearing before the top court bench comprising the Chief Justice and Justice K. Vinod Chandran on September 1, 2025, the bench noted that the plea involved the interpretation of the order passed by the Apex Court on 29.04.2025. Accordingly, the bench directed to place the matter before the bench presided over by Justice J.B.Pardiwala.
Also Read: NEET PG 2025 candidates move SC against new disclosure mechanism of answer key
The matter is likely to be listed for further hearing before the Supreme Court bench comprising Justice Pardiwala next week on 8th September, 2025.
The plea, filed by advocate Satyam Singh, emphasised that candidates are not seeking re-evaluation of answer sheets but their grievance is confined to the manner and format of disclosure. Further, the plea demanded that the disclosure must include: “(i) The questions in the order actually attempted, (ii) the candidate’s responses, (iii) the official correct answers, and (iv) the marks awarded.”
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that in the order dated 29.04.2025, the Apex Court bench comprising Justice J.B.Pardiwala and Justice R. Mahadevan had issued 10-point directives to reform the National Eligibility-Entrance Test Postgraduate (NEET-PG) exam and the bench had also directed the National Board of Examinations (NBE) to publish the raw scores, answer keys, and normalisation formula for the NEET PG exam.
In its order, the Apex Court bench had issued the following directives to the concerned authorities:
(i) Implement a Nationally synchronized counselling calendar to align AIQ and State rounds and prevent seat blocking across systems.
(ii) Mandate Pre-Counselling Fee Disclosure by all private / deemed universities, detailing tuition, hostel, caution deposit, and miscellaneous charges.
(iii) Establish a Centralized Fee Regulation Framework under the National Medical Commission (NMC)
(iv) Permit upgrade windows post-round 2 for admitted candidates to shift to better seats without reopening counselling to new entrants.
(v) Publish raw scores, answer keys and normalization formulae for transparency in multi-shift NEET-PG exams.
(vi) Enforce strict penalties for seat blocking including forfeiture of security deposit, disqualification from future NEET-PG exams (for repeat offenders), blacklisting of complicit colleges.
(vii) Implement Aadhaar-based seat tracking to prevent multiple seat holdings and misrepresentation.
(viii) Hold state authorities and institutional DMEs accountable under contempt or disciplinary action for rule or schedule violations.
(ix) Adopt a Uniform Counselling Conduct Code across all States for standard rules on eligibility, mop-up rounds, seat withdrawal, and grievance timelines.
(x) Set up a third-party oversight mechanism under NMC for annual audits of counselling data, compliance, and admission fairness.
To view the Supreme Court order on the new plea, click on the link below:
https://medicaldialogues.in/pdf_upload/supreme-court-nbems-answer-key-299777.pdf
