New Delhi: The Supreme Court has directed the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) to hold the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-PG, or NEET-PG 2025, in a single shift instead of the planned two shifts. The examination is scheduled for June 15.
The bench of Justice Vikram Nath, Justice Sanjay Kumar, and Justice N K Anjaria rejected NBEMS’ argument that there are not enough centres to accommodate all candidates in one shift. NEET-PG is national-level entrance exam for admission to post-graduate medical courses.
“We are not ready to accept that in the entire country, and considering the technological advancements in this country, the examining body could not find enough centres to hold the examination and one shift,” the bench said.
“Holding the exam in two shifts leads to arbitrariness and cannot give a level playing field. The question papers in the two shifts can never be of the same difficulty level. Last year, it may have been held in two shifts, given the facts and circumstances of that stage. But the examining body ought to have considered making arrangements for holding the examination in one shift,” the bench observed.
“Any two question papers can never be said to be of an identical level of difficulty or is. There has to be a variation. Normalisation may be applied in exceptional cases but not in a routine manner year after year,” it added.
“There is still more than two weeks for the examining body to identify the centres to hold the examination in one shift. We accordingly direct the respondents to make further arrangements for holding the examination in one shift, and also ensure that full transparency is maintained and secured centres are identified,” it ordered.
Appearing for NBEMS, senior advocate Maninder Acharya tried to explain why the two-shift decision was taken. Acharya said the exam is held online, and that there are limited centres for online exams.
“All important examinations in which a large number of candidates appear are held like this. We have very limited centres even for the June 15 exam. Infrastructure for Wi-Fi, good computer safety security, etc. All possible problems have been considered, and then this solution has been given,” it was contended.
The Court did not agree though and said even NEET-UG, which has far more candidates, is held in a single shift. The court also sought to know why the exam is held online.
“Why can’t you do it straightforwardly? Why do you need an online exam?… It’s just a multiple-choice exam,” the bench wanted to know.
After Acharya said it was being held online to avoid human intervention, the bench said that NBEMS will have to find a way to hold the exam in a single shift. There cannot be absolute equivalence between the papers of two shifts, whatever the normalisation process, it was observed.
