Supreme Court Refuses To Postpone NEET-PG Exam; ‘Can’t Jeopardise Careers’

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a petition filed by some students seeking postponement of Sunday’s NEET-PG exam.

A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, said it could not put the careers of nearly 2 lakh candidates at risk.

The entrance exam for postgraduate medical courses was initially scheduled to be held on June 23, only to be postponed and rescheduled to August 11 amid the row over irregularities in NEET-UG.

The petition, seeking another postponement, stated that many candidates appearing for the test have been allotted exam centres in cities where it was difficult for them to reach. The petitioners contended that the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS), which conducts the exam, informed them about the city of exam on July 31, while the exam centre was intimated to them only on August 8.

The students also submitted that the formula for normalisation of scores for the exam — to be held in two sessions — had not been revealed yet.

The bench, also comprising Justices Manoj Misra and J B Pardiwala, said it could not order the postponement of the exam just two days before it was supposed to be held.

“How can we postpone such an exam? Nowadays people just come asking to postpone the exam. It’s not a perfect world. We are not academic experts,” the court said.

The bench argued that 2 lakh students are expected to appear for the exam, and it was not inclined to ask for it to be rescheduled just because a few candidates want it.

“There are 2 lakh students and 4 lakh parents who will be affected. We cannot put the careers of so many candidates at risk just because of these petitioners,” the bench remarked.