'Can't Put Career Of 2 Lakh Students At Risk'' : Supreme Court Dismisses Plea To Postpone NEET-PG 2024 Exam

The Supreme Court on Friday (August 9) dismissed a petition seeking postponement of the NEET-PG 2024 examination, which is scheduled for August 11, 2024. The petitioner also challenged the decision of the National Board of Exams to hold the exam in two batches and apply a normalisation formula.

A bench of CJI DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala, Manoj Misra refused to entertain the petition.

"So many problems are there in the country, now to reschedule the PG Exam," CJI Chandrachud said as soon as the matter was taken.

"It was rescheduled once," Senior Advocate Sanjay Hegde, appearing for the petitioners, submitted, referring to the initial postponement of the exam from June 22.

When the bench expressed disinclination, Hegde said that he was pressing only the second prayer (Direct NBE to conduct the exam in a single batch to ensure a uniform and fair testing environment for all candidates).

The bench pointed out that only 5 out of over 2 lakh students have filed the petition. Hegde said that however the demand is backed by several students and that he has received about 50,000 messages.

"At the behest of 5 petitioners, we can't put the career of 2 lakh students at jeopardy. Let there be certainty," CJI said.

"As a matter of principle, we will not reschedule. There are two lakh students and 4 lakh parents who will weep over the weekend," CJI added.

As regards the concerns expressed by the petitioners regarding normalisation, CJI agreed that normalisation may not be the perfect soluction. CJI added that we should look at practical solutions in a complex and diverse society.

The petition was filed raising two primary concerns. First, that many NEET-PG 2024 candidates have been allotted test centres which are inconvenient for them to reach. Second, that the exam is slated to be held in two batches and the normalization formula is unknown to candidates, which gives rise to apprehensions of arbitrariness.

In related news, the Supreme Court recently refused to cancel the NEET-UG 2024 exam on the ground of paper leak and malpractices. It held that there was no material to indicate that the leak was systemic and affected the sanctity of the entire exam. The Court also opined that ordering a re-exam would lead to serious consequences (affecting over 23 lakh students) and cause disruption of the academic schedule, with a cascading effect in the coming years.

Background

By way of the present case, the petitioner claims that many candidates who will be appearing in the NEET-PG 2024 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:

(i) Direct the Respondents to reschedule the NEET-PG 2024 Examination;

(ii) Direct Respondent No. 1 to conduct the exam in a single batch to ensure a uniform and fair testing environment for all candidates;

(iii) Directing Respondent No. 1 to rectify Exam Centre allocation issues and ensure that test centres are allocated more equitably and transparently at nearby places.

The petition is filed through Advocate-on-Record Anas Tanwir.

Case Title: Vishal Soren @ Bishal Soren & Ors. v. National Board of Examination in Medical Sciences & Anr. |Diary No. 35578-2024

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