Are standards being compromised? SC seeks Centre reply on NEET-PG cut-offs

The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre seeking a detailed response in relation to a plea challenging the decision of the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) to drastically reduce the qualifying cutoff percentiles for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test Post Graduate (NEET-PG) 2025-26, reported Bar and Bench.

 

While hearing the plea, the Bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe stated that it is a matter of standards of medical education and examinations.

 

"The question is whether those standards are being compromised," the Court said.

 

What's the case?

Last month, the NBEMS revised the cutoff for NEET PG to zero percentile from 40th percentile for reserved categories, with the minimum qualifying scores falling to -40 from 235 out of 800. Similarly, the qualifying percentile for general and economically weaker section (EWS) candidates was reduced from 50th to 7th percentile, and for general persons with benchmark disability (PwBD) from 45th to 5th percentile.  

 

 

The order was challenged through a public interest litigation (PIL) by social worker Harisharan Devgan, Dr Saurav Kumar, Dr Lakshya Mittal and Dr Akash Soni, arguing that the cut-off reduction violates fundamental rights such as Article 14 and Article 21 of the Constitution. 

 

The PIL argues that lowering eligibility standards in postgraduate medical education is arbitrary, unconstitutional, and undermines merit at the highest level of medical training. It also claims that the reduction creates a clear and foreseeable risk to patient safety and public health, Bar and Bench reported.

 

Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for the petitioners, argued that the relevant regulation clearly sets the minimum qualifying standard at the 50th percentile, to be determined with reference to the highest marks scored. 

 

"You cannot go all the way down to minus 40 percentile," he added.

 

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati, however, maintained that the revision has been made for postgraduate seats for which all the candidates are doctors.  Responding to it, the Bench remarked, "We were stunned to see why this method was adopted. These are all regular doctors".

 

The Centre said the revision was intended to fill nearly 18,000 vacant postgraduate seats in medical institutions across India. At present, there are about 57,000 seats in total across government and private colleges.