'Can't Endanger Future Of Students': Supreme Court Refuses To Postpone NEET-PG Exam Scheduled For 11 August

The Supreme Court has rejected a petition requesting the postponement of the NEET-PG examination scheduled for 11 August as per a report by the Hindustan Times.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud, along with Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, stated that it could not jeopardise the careers of 2 lakh students for the sake of five petitioners.

“How can we postpone such an exam?” the bench remarked.

The bench further stated, "Mr Sanjay Hegde, nowadays, people are frequently requesting exam postponements. This is not an ideal world, and we are not academic experts."

The court also emphasised that it would not reschedule the exam as a matter of principle, pointing out that postponing it would affect the lives of two lakh students and their families.

"We cannot endanger the futures of so many candidates. We are unaware of who is behind these petitions," the bench added.

The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET)-Postgraduate exam, originally slated for 23 June, had already been postponed as a “precautionary measure” due to alleged irregularities in other competitive exams.

However, the petitioners argued that the new date of 11 August presented significant difficulties, particularly due to the late allocation of test centres on 31 July.

They claimed that the short notice left many candidates struggling to arrange travel, especially considering the high cost of last-minute airfare and the lack of available train tickets.

The petitioners also expressed concerns about the exam being conducted in two batches, fearing potential unfairness if one batch received a more difficult set of questions.

They requested that the normalisation formula, intended to ensure fairness across different question sets, be disclosed in advance to prevent any perception of arbitrariness.

Also read - Supreme Court Stays Hijab Ban In Mumbai College, Asks Why Tilak And Bindi Were Exempted