NEET-PG 2024: SC refuses to postpone exam, to be conducted on August 11

NEET-PG 2024: The Supreme Court bench said that it will not put the careers of 200,000 candidates in jeopardy for the sake of five individuals

The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a plea to delay the 2024 NEET-PG exam, scheduled for August 11. The petition argued that the assigned exam cities were too inconvenient for some candidates.

Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud, along with Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said that it would be unjust to risk the future of 200,000 students for the sake of five individuals.

The bench said, "How can we postpone such an exam? Sanjay Hegde, nowadays, people just come asking to postpone the exam. It's not a perfect world. We are not academic experts."

It further said, "As a matter of principle, we will not reschedule the exam. There are 200,000 students and 400,000 parents who will weep over the weekend if we postpone it. We cannot put the careers of so many candidates in jeopardy. We do not know who is behind these petitions."

Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde, representing the petitioners, argued that rescheduling the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Postgraduate) (NEET-PG) is necessary due to the presence of one exam scheduled for the morning and another for the afternoon.

The petition said that many candidates have been assigned cities that are highly inconvenient to reach. It noted that while the cities were assigned on July 31, the specific exam centres will be announced on August 8.

Originally set for June 23, the exam was postponed by the Union Health Ministry as a precautionary measure following reported irregularities in other competitive exams.

500 'trusted' exam centres

The NEET-PG exam for 2024 will be conducted at 500 "trusted" exam centres this year. According to the National Board of Examinations (NBE), the exam, set for August 11, will be conducted in two shifts for the first time. This change comes after a cut in the number of centres from 1,200. The NBE has decided to avoid outsourcing exam centres due to previous issues with paper leaks.

(With agency inputs)