SC seeks NBE reply on petition challenging lack of transparency in NEET PG 2024 examinations

New Delhi [India], September 20 : The Supreme Court on Friday asked the National Board of Examination (NBE) to file a reply to the petition, which alleged that there was a lack of transparency in conducting NEET PG 2024 examinations.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, comprising of justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, asked the Centre to file the response and listed the matter for further hearing on September 27 next Friday.
Advocates Vibha Makhija and Parul Shukla, appearing for the students, told the court that the examination is being conducted under information bulletins, which are being amended at last minute based on whims and fancies of the examination agencies.
According to the petition, there was a clear lack of transparency in conduct of examinations of NEET PG 2024 since none of the documents that can allow a student to check his/her performance, as neither the question paper, nor the response sheet filled in by candidates nor the answer key is supplied to the students, and merely a score card has been provided along with list of attempted correctly/attempted wrongly sections.
"The students on perusal of the score cards have found discrepancy in the total number of questions that they attempted which are found to be different than what is stated in the score cards issued to them. Thus, there is a basic flaw in the conduct of the examinations which goes to the root of the matter. However, there is no redressal of the above, and an unfettered power has been vested in the Respondents to conduct examinations, without the necessary checks and balances," the petition said.
The petitioner submitted that the consistent lack of transparency by NBE in the conduct of NEET PG 2024 is unconstitutional and in the teeth of the established law laid down by this Court regarding the Right to Information.
"The refusal of Respondent No. 1 (NBE) to release the answer keys of either shift of NEET PG 2024 or the response sheets of candidates not only violates their legitimate right to know their respective performance and the basis of the final result, but also bars them from challenging any discrepancy in the conduct of the exam or in the results obtained. This is a serious patent defect in the conduct of the examinations, and requires to be redressed in order to achieve a clean transparent and effective system of examination which gives the best candidates," the petition added.
The Petitioners, who are trained doctors from all over India said that they have obtained accredited degrees of Bachelor of Medicine and
Bachelor of Surgery ('MBBS') from recognised medical institutes. With the intention of obtaining further disciplinary specialisation for medical practice, the petitioners said that they had appeared in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, Postgraduate (NEET PG) held on August 11, 2024 conducted by the NBE in Medical Sciences, the results of which were announced on August 23, 2024 and counselling is to commence at any time.
NEET PG is a highly competitive, memory-based, multidisciplinary exam involving participation of lakhs of candidates across the country, and it requires intensive study and preparation so that candidates can achieve the degree and institution of their choice being a specialisation course, the petitioner said.
"The method/manner in which examination under the NEET PG 2024 is conducted by the Respondents is manifestly arbitrary and
against the principles of transparency and fairness in state action as enshrined under Article 14 of the Constitution of India, 1950," the petition said.
It also raised the issue of a new procedure for normalising scores and called it completely arbitrary.
"Two classes of candidates have been created without any reasonable nexus with object being sought to be achieved. Splitting one common examination into two sessions with different question papers and applying general criteria for normalisation is completely arbitrary and leads to erroneous results, which would not give a correct picture of the best candidate picked for each speciality," the petition added.