NEET PG 2022: Supreme Court To Hear Plea To Extend Internship Deadline On February 8, 2022

The Supreme Court today adjourned for Tuesday, February 8, 2022 a writ petition filed by six MBBS seeking deferment of NEET PG 2022 which is scheduled to be conducted on March 12, 2022 so as to accommodate candidates who are currently undergoing NEET-PG 2021-22 counseling and would want to appear in NEET-PG 2022-23, subject to the seat allocation in NEET PG 2021-2022.

The matter was listed before the bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant.

When the matter was called for hearing, Justice Surya Kant said, "If I'm correct, they have postponed the exam for a period of 6 to 8 weeks."

"Yes, even I read it in the afternoon," Justice DY Chandrachud, the presiding judge of the bench added.

Submitting that the postponement of the exam only impacted the larger relief sought by the petitioner, Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan appearing for the petitioners contended that the deadline of May 31, 2022, provided for the completion of the internship was difficult for candidates.

Referring to the Prime Minister's statement dated May 3, 2021, the Senior Counsel submitted that in furtherance of various circulars issued by the colleges, many final year MBBS candidates had joined as front line workers in CoVID duties.

Senior Counsel further added that February 4, 2022 is the last date for online submission of the application.

"We can always extend the time for registration," remarked Justice Chandrachud.

Justice DY Chandrachud the presiding judge of the bench asked ASG Sanjay Jain to take instructions with regards to the reliefs sought in the petition to which ASG agreed.

Firstly the bench expressed its inclination to take the matter on Monday but later the bench adjourned the matter for Tuesday 8th February 2022.

The petitioners were represented through Dubey Law Chambers and led by Senior Advocates Gopal Sankaranarayanan and Mukul Rohatgi and the petition was filed through Advocate Charu Mathur.

Details Of The Petition

The petitioners have also challenged the conditions provided in the information bulletin with regards to completion of internship till May 31, 2022 and have also sought to extend the deadline for completion of the same.

It has been argued in the petition that the deadline of May 31, 2022 which is provided under Clause 4.1 and 4.2 of the Information Bulletin for NEET-PG 2022, is manifestly arbitrary as it deprives thousands of candidates to apply for the examination.

In this regard, it has been stated that, while the candidates joined for covid duties, neither the National Board of Examination, nor the colleges informed them that serving as covid warriors would delay their commencement of internship and could also affect the registration for NEET-PG 2022-23.

In the alternative, doctors have also prayed for allowing the candidates who are not completing their internship on or before May 31, 2022 to appear for NEET PG 2022 and permitting them to submit the internship completion certificate after obtaining the same on completion of 1 year mandatory period.

Assailing the NEET PG 2022 schedule, Doctors in the petition have also contended that accommodating two batches in one year is against Clause 12 of the Post Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 2000 as there can be a maximum number of 5 PG seats for the degree per unit per year.

In this regard, MBBS graduates have also sought clarification from the National Board of Examination with regards to the methodology for admission of PG Batches for two years in one session and have sought deferment of the exam until the requirement is met.

It has also been doctor's contention that many candidates appearing in the counseling for NEET-PG 2021 are yet waiting for seat allocation and that due to the clash in the dates of counseling and the date of NEET-PG 2022 examination, they would not be in a position to appear in the examination, even if they wish to.

Case Title: Shivam Satyarthee & Ors v Union of India and Ors| WP(68) of 2022 

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