Institute of Legal and Management Studies

During the hearing of petitions against conduct of NEET PG in two shifts, the Supreme Court today remarked that when a legitimate grievance is raised, it is not relevant that only a few persons are seeking relief.

Justice Sanjay Kumar made the statement while responding to Senior Advocate Maninder Acharya, appearing for the National Board of Examinations (NBE), who contended that only a few out of over two lakh candidates had raised a grievance against conduct of the exam in two shifts. She opposed the plea to conduct the exam in a single shift.

“Only a few candidates are before this court out of 2.5 lakh candidates. Other students have no problem with two shifts. They have not come here”, she said.

However, the court rejected this argument, with Justice Kumar responding –

A bench of Justice Vikram Nath, Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice NV Anjaria was hearing a batch of petitions challenging the NBE's decision to conduct the NEET-PG 2025 examination in two shifts. The petitioners argued that the two-shift format compromises fairness due to variation in the difficulty level of question papers.

Ultimately, the Court rejected the NBE's arguments that there were insufficient centres to conduct the exam in one shift and that normalisation addresses any differences in difficulty.

The Court directed the NBE to conduct NEET-PG 2025 in a single shift to ensure transparency and a level playing field, observing that the exam is scheduled for June 15 and that there is still time to make the necessary arrangements.

Addressing NBE's submission that it will not be possible to make the arrangements in time for the scheduled date of the exam, the Court allowed it to seek an extension of time if it is unable to make the arrangements by June 15.

Case no. – Diary No. - 22918/2025

Case Title – Dr. Aditi & Ors. v. National Board of Examination in Medical Sciences & Ors.