The Supreme Court has ordered that the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), a national-level entrance examination for admission to undergraduate medical courses, should be conducted in one shift rather than two.
The top court was hearing a petition challenging a notification on conducting the NEET-PG 2025 examination in two shifts. The court held that conducting the exam in two shifts “creates arbitrariness” and directed the National Testing Agency (NTA) to arrange for the exam to be conducted in one shift. The NEET-PG exam is scheduled for June 15.
“Any two question papers can never be said to be of the same level of difficulty or ease,” noted the bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih while delivering the judgement. The court directed the NTA to ensure total transparency in the conduct of the exam.
The result of the computer-based examination is expected to be declared on July 15. On May 5, the bench directed a response from the NBE, National Medical Council and the health ministry on the plea.
Earlier this month, the top court had pronounced a judgment giving several directions to curb seat blocking in NEET-PG counselling and directed to publish raw scores, answer keys and normalisation formulae of the examinations.
The plea, which challenged the conduct of the NEET-PG exam in two shifts, had the potential for unfairness due to different levels of difficulty between the shifts. It was filed by one Aditi & others.
