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Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Health
- Hindustan Times
SC directs single shift test for NEET-PG
The Supreme Court on Friday directed the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for postgraduate medical courses (NEET-PG) to be held in a single shift, observing the decision of the National Board of Examination in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) to conduct the examination in two shifts 'creates arbitrariness'. The decision of the court came on multiple petitions filed by candidates appearing for NEET-PG 2025 who sought the examination, scheduled for June 15, be conducted in a single shift. The candidates claimed that in the two-shift model the question papers are set with different difficulty levels which is 'discriminatory to some of the candidates'. A bench headed by justice Vikram Nath said, 'We direct the authorities to hold the examination in one shift and also ensure complete transparency is maintained and secured centres are identified.' The bench, also comprising justices Sanjay Kumar and NV Anjaria, pulled up NBEMS for not identifying enough centres to hold the examination in one shift, saying, 'Holding examination in two shifts is unacceptable.' Senior advocate Maninder Acharya, appearing for the NBEMS, opposed the petitions, saying that holding the exam in a single shift will jeopardise the candidates who have registered for the examination as there is little time left to identify new centres. This year 242,678 candidates have registered for NEET-PG, and finding 'secured' centres with the requisite infrastructure and security arrangements to accommodate these candidates will be a huge challenge, Acharya said. Addressing the concerns expressed by NBEMS, the court said, 'The exam is to be held all over the country. We are not ready to accept that in the entire country, considering the technological advancement we have achieved, the examination body cannot find enough examination centres.' The court ordered NBEMS to identify new examination centres to hold the exam in one shift. 'There are still two weeks for identifying examination centres and holding the exam in one shift. Burn the midnight oil and find the centres,' it said. NBEMS said that the decision to have two shifts was to curb 'malpractices by unscrupulous elements'. The exam is conducted on a computer-based platform and there are no physical answer sheets and question papers for the candidates. NBEMS, however, said there was a possibility of malpractices as the test only contains multiple choice questions (MCQs). The bench, in response said, 'Having two shifts creates arbitrariness and does not allow students to take examination at the same level. It is unfair to have two shifts. Any two examination papers has to have variation.' Acharya informed the court that NBEMS is bound by the top court's orders to hold the examination by June 15, as she sought permission of the court to seek an extension. The bench did not pass any order extending the date. However, it said, 'It would be open for the respondent to seek an extension of time.' The candidates, represented by senior advocate Shikhil Suri and advocate Charu Mathur, told the court that the two-shift examination created a lot of problems for candidates as last year, the paper for the second shift was comparatively easy. Keeping this in mind, last year, the method of normalisation was applied. The petitioners argued that the process for conducting NEET-PG 2025 began from March and despite time being available, authorities have not made any effort to conduct the examination in a single shift. Acharya defended NBEMS's decision, stating that other competitive examinations such as Common Admission Test (CAT) for postgraduate management programs and Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for admission to undergraduate engineering courses are held in multiple shifts. The bench, however, noted that these exams feature over a million candidates, and cannot be compared with NEET-PG which has less than 250,000 applicants. The respondent also said that the petitions are proceeding on a misconception that the question papers for each shift will have a vast difference in difficulty levels. 'Even if the two sets have different difficulty levels, we have a process of normalisation,' Acharya said, adding that any direction passed by the court will impact other entrance examinations conducted on a pattern of multiple shifts. The bench said, 'Normalisation may be applied in exceptional cases, but, not as a matter of routine year after didn't you think of this before? This process started in March.' NBEMS told the court that except for a few candidates, who are before the court, the majority of candidates appearing for the examination do not have any grievance with the two-shift process. The court said, 'Even if we find one candidate raising a legitimate grievance, that is enough for us to step in.' The number of NEET-PG registrants this year has increased 45% from 2020 (167,102 candidates). 'The safety and security of conduct of examinations on a computer-based-platform has its own challenges and examination conducting bodies are required to take all possible measures to prevent use of any unfair means by unscrupulous elements to adopt any kind of malpractices,' NBEMS said in an affidavit filed before the top court. Keeping this in mind, the National Medical Commission (NMC) and the Union ministry of health & family welfare, had decided to conduct NEET PG 2025 examination at limited test centres, similar to the exercise last year, where security and sanctity of examination can be better ensured, it said.
Time of India
2 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Hold NEET-PG exam in one sitting; two papers can vary in difficulty: Supreme Court
Representative image NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday directed the National Board of Examinations (NBE) to conduct the NEET-PG exam in one sitting for all 2.4 lakh candidates instead of the scheduled test in two shifts in 900 centres across India on June 15. A bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sanjay Kumar and N V Anjaria said it was not ready to accept that the body conducting the examination could not find enough centres to accommodate all candidates in one shift. "Holding the examination in two shifts is arbitrary and does not allow candidates to have the same question paper. Any two different question papers will vary in their difficulty levels," the bench said. When counsel for NBE said the norm in IIT-JEE was to have multiple sets of question papers and then apply normalisation of marks according to difficulty levels of questions, SC said normalisation of marks could be adopted only in exceptional circumstances and not routinely year after year. It directed NBE to set up an adequate number of additional examination centres to conduct NEET-PG in one sitting. When the counsel said the process for identifying additional secure examination centres could result in postponing the June 15 exam date, the bench said if the authorities require postponement of the test for finding more centres, it would have to seek permission from the court.
Hans India
2 days ago
- Politics
- Hans India
Conduct NEET-PG 2025 in 1 shift: Supreme Court
New Delhi: In a significant order, the Supreme Court on Friday issued directions that the post-graduate medical entrance exam scheduled on June 15 be conducted in a single shift, saying holding it in two shifts 'creates arbitrariness'. A bench headed by Justice Vikram Nath directed the authorities to make arrangements for holding National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Post Graduate (NEET-PG) 2025 exam in one shift and to ensure that complete transparency is maintained and secured centres are identified. "Any two question papers can never be said to be having an identical level of difficulty or ease," said the bench, also comprising Justices Sanjay Kumar and N V Anjaria. It said normalisation may be applied in exceptional cases but not in a routine manner year after year. It said normalisation may be applied in exceptional cases but not in a routine manner year after year. The bench passed the order on pleas challenging a notification on holding the NEET-PG 2025 examination in two shifts. The top court said the total number of candidates who have applied for the examination is 2,42,678 and the test is held all over the country and not in one city. "We are not ready to accept that in the entire country and considering the technological advancement in the country, the examining body could not find enough centres to hold the examination in one shift," the bench said.
Time of India
2 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Conduct NEET-PG 2025 in single shift: Top court to exam board
The Supreme Court on Friday directed the National Board of Examination (NBE) to hold the entrance exam for post-graduate medical courses (NEET-PG 2025) in a single shift ensuring transparency. A bench comprising Justice Vikram Nath, Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice NV Anjaria passed the order while hearing a batch of petitions challenging the decision of the NBE to conduct NEET-PG 2025 in two shifts. The bench directed the NBE to not hold NEET-PG in two shifts to remove the element of arbitrariness. The court observed that there is still time to make necessary arrangements for the exam, scheduled to be held on June 15. "Holding examination in two shifts creates arbitrariness and also does not keep all the candidates at the same level. Any two question papers can never be said to be of an identical level of difficulty or ease. There has to be a variation," the bench said in its order. Turning down the contention of the NBE that there were not enough centres to hold the exam in a single shift, the top court said, "The exam is to be held all over the country, not just one city. We are not ready to accept that in the entire country, and considering the technological advancements in this country, the examining body could not find enough centres to hold the examination and one shift." by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like If You Eat Ginger Everyday for 1 Month This is What Happens Tips and Tricks Undo The NBE argued that normalisation is applied to make the levels of both papers the same. To this, the bench said that normalisation may be applied in exceptional cases, but not in a routine manner year after year. "The examination for this year is scheduled for June 15. There is still more than two weeks for the examining body to identify the centres to hold the examination in one shift," the bench said. "We accordingly direct the respondents to ensure further arrangements for holding the examination in one shift and also ensure that full transparency is maintained and secured centres are identified."
United News of India
2 days ago
- Politics
- United News of India
SC directs NEET-PG 2025 to be held in single shift, slams NBE over arbitrariness
New Delhi, May 30 (UNI) In a significant ruling to uphold fairness and transparency in competitive medical examinations, the Supreme Court on Friday directed the National Board of Examinations (NBE) to conduct NEET-PG 2025 in a single shift instead of the previously planned two-shift format. A Bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Sanjay Kumar, and NV Anjaria said the two-shift model was arbitrary and inherently unfair, as question papers in separate shifts can never be of exactly the same difficulty level, despite claims of 'normalisation". 'Holding examinations in two shifts creates arbitrariness and does not place all candidates on the same level. No two question papers can be identical in difficulty or ease,' the Court stated firmly. The Court rejected the NBE's argument that logistical limitations, such as the lack of enough centres with online exam infrastructure, necessitated two shifts. 'This is a national exam, not a local one. Given India's technological advancement, we are not ready to accept that sufficient centres cannot be identified across the country,' the Bench asserted. When the NBE claimed that only a few students had challenged the two-shift format, Justice Sanjay Kumar countered, 'Even if one student has a legitimate grievance, the Court will intervene.' The Court was hearing a batch of petitions challenging the two-shift NEET-PG 2025 model, with petitioners arguing it violated Article 14 (Right to Equality) and Article 21 (Right to Fair Procedure) of the Constitution. Senior Advocate Maninder Acharya, appearing for the NBE, claimed that the two-shift exam format was necessary due to infrastructure constraints and online exam requirements. She added that several national-level exams like CAT, INI-CET, JEE, and CUET are also held in multiple shifts with normalisation. However, the Bench dismissed these comparisons, asserting: 'You cannot compare NEET-PG with other exams. This is a post-graduate medical entrance exam. There has to be zero arbitrariness.' Addressing NBE's defence of using 'normalisation' to balance shift difficulties, the Court clarified: 'Normalisation may be applied in exceptional cases, but it cannot become the default every year.' The Court emphasised that the principle of 'merit over luck' must govern competitive exams, and normalisation cannot be used as a blanket justification. 'Why should there be normalisation? Two-shift candidates face different levels of difficulty. That's unfair,' Justice Vikram Nath remarked. NEET-PG 2025 is scheduled for June 15, and the Court noted that over two weeks remain to arrange for single-shift logistics. However, it gave the NBE the option to seek an extension if more time is required. 'If the respondents find that they are not able to identify the centres and conduct the examination on 15th June, it will be open to them to apply for extension of time,' the Court clarified. The petitions filed by students and advocates, including Senior Advocate Shikhil Suri and lawyers Vidhisha Swarup, Dr. Charu Mathur, Avani Bansal, among others argued that the two-shift format leads to inconsistencies in question paper difficulty, giving some candidates an unfair edge. They cited issues with NEET-PG 2024, which was conducted in two shifts and faced criticism and litigation for uneven question distributions. An analysis by a coaching platform showed variation in subject-wise questions, further raising concerns about fairness and transparency. The petitioners called the practice a violation of Articles 14 and 21, stressing that conducting the exam in a single shift would ensure a 'just, fair, reasonable, and equitable' competition. UNI SNG RN
