Institute of Legal and Management Studies

The Supreme Court on Friday (May 30) directed the National Board of Examination not to hold NEET-PG 2025 in two shifts, observing that such an exam will create arbitrariness.

The Court directed the NBE to make arrangements to hold NEET-PG 2025 in a single shift ensuring transparency. The Court observed that there was still time left 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 Court observed in its order.

Rejecting the argument of the NBE that there were not enough centres to hold exam in single shift, the Court observed:

"The exam is to be held all over the country, not just one city. We are not ready to accept that in 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."

A bench of Justice Vikram Nath, Justice Sanjay Kumar, and Justice NV Anjaria passed the order while hearing a batch of petitions challenging the decision of the National Board of Examinations (NBE) to conduct NEET-PG 2025 in two shifts.

Normalisation cannot be applied in routine manner; take steps to conduct exam in single shift : Court directs

Regarding NBE's argument that normalisation is applied to make the levels of both papers the same, the Court observed in its order :

"Normalisation may be applied in exceptional cases but not in a routine manner year after year."

The examination for this year is scheduled for the 15th of June 2025. There is still more than 2 weeks for the examining body to identify the centres to hold the examination in one shift.

We accordingly direct the respondents to ensure make further arrangements for holding the examination in one shift and also ensure that full transparency is maintained and secured centres are identified."

In it's order, the court recorded the grievance of the petitioners thus: "Holding the exam in two shifts leads to arbitrariness and cannot give a level playing field. The question papers in the two shifts can never be of the same difficulty level. Last year it may have been held in two shifts in the facts and circumstances of that stage. But the examining body ought to have considered making arrangements for holding the examination in one shift."

What happened during the hearing?

The counsel for the petitioners submitted that the double-shift exam gives priority to "luck" over 'merit."

When the bench asked why the exam was held in two shifts, Senior Advocate Maninder Acharya, for the National Board of Exams, replied :

"The exam is held online. In 2024 NEET UG had to be cancelled due to malpractice. For online exam there are limited centres. All important examinations in which large number of candidates appear are held like this."

"Even for this exam we have very limited centres. Infrastructure for Wi-Fi, good computers safety security etc. All possible problems have been considered and then this solution has been given," Acharya said. She added that the exam is scheduled to take place on June 15 and any Court interference will result in the cancellation of the exam and delay the admission process. She added that out of over 2.5 lakh candidates, only a handful of them have approached the Court.

"Appropriate difficulty level of both the shifts is kept at the same. After that, there is normalization. So even if there is a slight difference between difficulty level, the marks are normalised," the NBE's counsel added, asserting that no prejudice is caused to any candidate.

However, the bench was not impressed with these arguments, and asked why the exam had to be done in two-shifts. The bench also pointed out that double-shift was not done for the NEET-UG, which has more candidates.

"Why can't you do it straight forward why do you need an online exam?" Justice Vikram Nath asked. "Why do you need an online exam? It is just a multiple choice question exam," Justice Sanjay Kumar asked. The NBE Counsel maintained that this was done to avoid human intervention.

Justice Nath however said that NBE has to find a solution and ensure that exam is held in a single shift. Justice Nath said that there cannot be absolute equivalence between the papers of two-shifts, whatever be the normalisation process.

"Why should there be normalisation? The two-shift candidates are giving exam with different difficulties.." Justice Nath said. NBE counsel pointed out that many other exams, like CAT, IN-CET, IIT-JEE, CUET etc, are held in two shifts. She added that there is no difference in difficulty level and even if there is a difference, normalisation is applied.

The bench however stuck to its view that two shits cannot be permitted. The bench said that other exams cannot be compared to NEET-PG. When the NBE said that only a handful of students have approached the Court, Justice Sanjay Kumar said that even if one student who has a legitimate greivance, the Court will interfere.

Acharya said that to hold exam in one shift, 900 extra centres will have to be arranged, which is not possible before June 15. The bench said that the agency has time to find out the resources. "Don't give us a threat that admissions will be delayed. You can do," Justice Vikram Nath said.

In its order, the bench clarified that the NBE can apply for extension of time if they are unable to make arrangements by June 15.

"It will be open for the respondents to apply for extension of time if they find that they are not able to identify the centres and conduct the examination on 15th June."

Senior Advocate Shikhil Suri, Advocates Vidhisha Swarup, Dr.Charu Mathur, Avani Bansal, Abhisht Hela, Tanvi Dubey etc, appeared for the petitioners.

Background

The writ petition challenges the two-shift policy, stating that it creates potential unfairness due to varying levels of difficulty between shifts. It seeks a direction for NEET-PG 2025 to be held in a single shift to ensure "just, fair, reasonable and equitable" competition among candidates.

The petition argues that conducting the exam in two shifts violates the candidates' rights under Article 14 of the Constitution, as the absence of transparency in the moderation and normalisation process makes it nearly impossible to maintain fairness. It further claims that Article 21 is violated due to the lack of a fair examination process.

The plea also refers to NEET-PG 2024, which was conducted in a two-shift format and resulted in litigation before the Supreme Court. It cites an assessment by a "prominent online coaching platform" highlighting disparities in the number of questions per subject in each shift. The petition contends that such discrepancies can inflate and vary marks and rankings, giving undue advantage to some candidates and violating Article 14.

It further claims that in NEET PG 2024, the second shift was easier, which may have disadvantaged candidates in the first shift. Therefore, the petition prays that NEET-PG 2025 be conducted in a single shift to eliminate such disparities.

The Supreme Court had earlier, on May 5, sought a response from the National Board of Examinations, the National Medical Council, and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare regarding the plea.

Case Details: Dr. ADITI & ORS v. NATIONAL BOARD OF EXAMINATION IN MEDICAL SCIENCES & ORS| DIARY NO. - 22918/2025