In a crucial development, a plea has been filed before the Supreme seeking postponement of the NEET-PG 2024 examination, which is scheduled for August 11, 2024.
The petitioner claims that many candidates who will be appearing in the exam have been allocated cities that are highly inconvenient for them to reach.
It is urged that the allocation of test cities was made on 31.07.2024 and the specific centres are scheduled to be declared on 08.08.2024. While the same was done to curb any malpractice in the examinations, the petitioner asserts that given the short notice, it has become highly difficult for students to make arrangements for their travel to their specific cities.
"...more than two lakh students are scheduled to appear in the aforestated examination. The examination is scheduled to be held in 185 test cities therefore resulting in non-availability of train tickets as well as hiking of air fares due to dynamic pricing thereby making it almost impossible for a large number of students to reach their test centres", the petition states.
Besides deferring of the exam, the petitioner seeks disclosure of the normalization formula of the four sets of question paper to candidates, so that any possibility of arbitrariness in the process is eliminated.
"The fact that the examinations will be conducted in two batches and that the formula for normalisation is unknown to the candidates thereby causing an apprehension...there is a likelihood that one batch of candidates may face a more difficult question paper than the other batch", adds the petition.
The prayers made are as follows:
A. Issue a writ in the nature of Mandamus and/ or any other writ/ order directing the Respondents to reschedule the NEET-PG 2024 Examination.
B. Issue a writ in the nature of Mandamus and/ or any other writ/ order, directing the Respondent No. 01 to conduct the exam in a single batch to ensure a uniform and fair testing environment for all candidates.
C. Issue a writ in the nature of Mandamus and/ or any other writ/ order, directing the Respondent No. 01, in the nature of Writ of Mandamus and rectify Examination Centre Allocation Issues and ensure that test centres are allocated more equitably and transparently at nearby places.
The petition is filed through AoR Anas Tanwir.
Case Title: Vishal Soren @ Bishal Soren & Ors. v. National Board of Examination in Medical Sciences & Anr.