The
Supreme Court (SC) on Friday ordered the National Board of Examination (NBE) to
conduct the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Post Graduate (NEET-PG) 2025
exam in one shift, instead of two shifts.
Supreme Court in its ruling said that conducting the exam in two shifts
creates "arbitrariness", adding that NBE should make necessary
arrangements to hold the exam in a single shift and to ensure transparency.
The
court in its order stated, "Holding examination in two shifts creates
arbitrariness and also does not keep all the candidates at the same level. Any
two question papers can ever be said to be of an identical level of difficulty
or ease. There has to be a variation."
The court rejected the argument made by NBE that
there are not enough centres to hold the exam in a single shift. The apex court
ruled, "The exam is to be held all over the country, not just in 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 in one shift."
The order was passed by a three-judge bench while it
was hearing petitions challenging NBE's decision to conduct NEET-PG 2025 in two
shifts.
When questioned why the exam for NEET-PG has to be
conducted in two shifts, when the same is not the case for NEET-UG, which has
more applicants, NBE stated, "The exam is held online. In 2024, NEET
UG had to be cancelled due to malpractice. For the online exam, there are
limited centres. All important examinations in which a large number of
candidates appear are held like this."
Petitioners' counsel argued in the court that the
double-shift exam gives priority to "luck" over "merit". It
further claimed that conducting the exam in two shifts violates the rights of
the candidates under Article 14 of the Constitution. The plea also referred to
the 2024 NEET-PG exam, which was conducted in two shifts and resulted in a case
before the apex court.