NEET-SS : Supreme Court Dismisses Plea To Hold NEET-SS 2024 This Year, Asks NMC To Announce Exam Schedule In 30 Days

The Supreme Court on Wednesday (August 14) dismissed a petition challenging the decision of the National Medical Commission(NMC) to not hold the NEET- Super Speciality Exam (NEET-SS) 2024 this year.

The petition was filed by thirteen doctors under Article 32 of the Constitution.

The bench of CJI DY Chandrachud,Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra observed that the data given by the National Medical Commission suggested that at least 40% of the students who take the NEET-SS are from the immediately preceding batch. The bench noted that the petitioners, who have appeared in the NEET-SS before, would not be prejudiced if the exam is deferred to next year. However, if the exam is held this year, then the 2021 Post-Graduate batch students, who would be completing their courses only in January 2025, would lose their chance.

Therefore, the bench observed that the decision of the NMC is "fairly equitable" and cannot be termed as "arbitrary." Though the bench agreed that the delay in the exam will cause some hardship to the petitioners, such hardship has to be balanced with the other concerns raised by the NMC.

At the same time, the bench accepted the petitioners' prayer that the NMC must take an early decision on laying down the schedule for NEET-SS 2024 exam. The schedule shall be announced not later than within a period of thirty days from today, the bench ordered, factoring in the number of students who would be completing their PG courses in January 2025. The bench further directed that the exam be held within three months from January 2025.

According to the National Medical Commission, the reason for not conducting the NEET-SS 2024 exam stems from the delayed admissions for MD, MS, and DMB courses through NEET-PG exam in the 2021 academic year. Due to COVID-19, these admissions were held from January 2022 to May 2022, pushing the course completion to January 2025. The NMC decided to postpone the NEET-SS 2024 exam to accommodate these students.

The petitioners' counsel Advocate Rashmi Nandkumar submitted that only 40% of the students who join the SS course are from the immediately preceding PG batch. Therefore, the decision to not hold NEET-SS this year citing the delayed admission of the 2021 PG batch is arbitrary, as it would deprive the remaining 60% of students of their opportunity.

Advocate Gaurav Sharma, for the NMC, submitted that if NEET-SS is conducted this year, the students of the 2021 PG batch would lose their opportunities.  

Case Details RAHUL BALWAN VS. UNION OF INDIA DIARY NO. - 29216/2024