The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea challenging the National Medical Commission’s (NMC) decision to not conduct the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Super Speciality (NEET-SS) in 2024. The court deemed the postponement “fairly equitable” and directed the NMC to finalize the exam schedule early next year.
The bench, led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, concurred with the NMC’s rationale that the postponement was necessary due to the delayed completion of PG medical courses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The courses that started in 2022, instead of 2021, are set to conclude in January 2025. Conducting the NEET-SS this year would unfairly deprive students from the 2021 PG batches of the opportunity to participate.
The court highlighted that if the exam were held in 2024, students graduating in January 2025 would miss the chance to appear, leading to a scenario where two batches would compete for the same seats in the 2025 exam. “This would result in a situation where two batches of candidates would be competing for the same seats in the NEET-SS 2025 exam,” the justices noted.
The petitioners, a group of 13 doctors including Rahul Balwan, argued that the NEET-SS is supposed to be held annually as per previous Supreme Court judgments. However, the court observed that since the petitioners had already appeared for the NEET-SS exam previously, they would not be significantly prejudiced by the postponement.
Acknowledging some hardship for the petitioners, the court stated that “hardship has to be balanced in light of the NMC affidavit,” affirming that the decision to postpone the exam was not arbitrary but necessary under the circumstances.
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The NEET-SS, which is essential for doctors holding post-graduate degrees like MD, MS, and DNB, or equivalent qualifications, to pursue super-speciality courses, is now likely to be conducted in January 2025.
