Postponed Again! SC Defers NEET PG 2024 Hearing for the 4th Time
Supreme Court of India
New Delhi: The confusion and the uncertainty over the National Eligibility-Entrance Test Postgraduate (NEET-PG) 2024 continues as the Supreme Court once again deferred the petition hearing seeking the release of the exam answer key.
Even though the matter was scheduled for hearing yesterday, the Apex Court has now postponed it for further hearing on November 26, 2024, TOI has reported.
The candidates filed the plea before the Apex Court to seek transparency in the PG medical entrance examination conducted by the National Board of Examinations (NBE). Although the plea was filed on September 7, 2024, it has seen multiple delays since then.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that previously, during the hearing of the matter on September 30, the plea was postponed as no one appeared on behalf of the Central Government. On that day, CJI Chandrachud requested all the Additional Solicitor Generals (ASGs) to be there for the upcoming hearing on October 4, 2024.
Again, the plea was postponed on October 25 as the National Board of Examinations had pointed out before the top court bench that while they had filed a very detailed response, the Union of India had not.
The NBE's counsel pointed out that the presence of the Central Government was required because, even though NBE had the charge of conducting the exam, the counselling and admission process is monitored by the Centre.
Also Read: NEET PG Supreme Court Hearing Postponed Again
What are the Demands of the Candidates:
In their plea filed before the apex court, NEET-PG aspirants claimed that the introduction of two shifts, normalisation method, and change in the tie-breaker criterion just three days before the examination affected the students adversely.
The petitioners contended that the NEET-PG information bulletin could be amended at the whims and fancy of the authorities and no rules or regulations existed governing the conduct of examinations.
It challenged the National Board Of Examinations’ (NBE) practice of not disclosing question papers, answer keys, or response sheets of candidates for the exam this year.
The plea said that there was a clear lack of transparency in the conduct of the examination since none of the documents allowed students to check their performance, adding that neither the question paper, nor the response sheet filled in by candidates, or an answer key was supplied to the students, and merely a scorecard had been provided.
The petition, filed by advocate Parul Shukla, highlighted that unlike previous years where the candidate used to receive their total score along with the number of correctly attempted questions and the number of incorrectly attempted questions, the results released on August 23 this year did not provide the total score of the candidate.
"The method/manner in which examination under the NEET PG 2024 is conducted by the respondents (authorities) is manifestly arbitrary and against the principles of transparency and fairness in state action as enshrined under Article 14 of the Constitution of India," it added.
The plea said that NEET-PG had never been held in two shifts before and had always remained a single-shift and single-day examination to ensure a uniform examination standard and fairness of the national exam.
It highlighted a "serious patent defect in the conduct of the examination", requiring redressal in order to achieve a clean, transparent and effective system of examination which gives the best candidates.
"The NEET-PG is a multidisciplinary exam where one’s rank also determines their ability to opt for the course and field of their choice. Any slight variation in marks would bar several candidates from specialising in their field of interest," it added.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that while considering the matter, the Supreme Court on September 20 had expressed displeasure over the last-minute changes in the exam pattern by NBE. Terming it to be "unusual", the Apex Court bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud, Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra had issued notices to the NBE and Union Government, asking them to file their counter within a week.
Application Seeks to Stay NEET PG 2024 Counselling:
The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) released the counselling schedule for PG medical admissions this year. It was mentioned in the schedule that the deadline for choice-filling for Round 1 was November 17 and the seat allotment was scheduled to take place on November 18 and 19.
With the commencement of the counselling and no solution regarding the plea before the Supreme Court, recently an application was filed before the Supreme Court seeking suspension of the ongoing NEET-PG counselling for admissions.
It was mentioned in the application that despite clear directions given by the Apex Court for the disposal of the matter on November 19, an attempt is being made by the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) to carry out counselling in a hurried manner prior to the date fixed, to defeat the rights of the petitioner candidates.
However, the Times of India has reported that the NEET PG hearing was once again postponed by the Supreme Court yesterday and now it has been slated for further hearing on November 26, 2024.
Also Read: Suspend NEET PG 2024 Counselling for Lack of Transparency in Exam: Plea in SC
