NEET PG Supreme Court decision 2024 expected today; effect on state counselling

NEW DELHI: After being postponed for the fifth time, the Supreme Court will hear the NEET PG 2024 case raising questions against the transparency of the exam and the functioning of the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) today. While the NBE board remained nonchalant to the concerns, aspirants hope to find clarity on the NEET PG results 2024.

The top court has deferred the NEET PG SC hearing five times now. The last hearing, scheduled on November 26, was postponed after the petitioners urged it to adjourn for a week. The bench comprising Justices BR Gavai and MV Viswanathan will be hearing the matter today.

Besides the legal stays and ongoing MCC NEET PG counselling 2024, states including Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, and Rajasthan have also been hearing the petitions filed against the discrepancies in the NEET PG results.

Despite the continuous demands by the candidates, the NBEMS refused to share the answer key and exam content as it was against the exam policy. Moreover, candidates pointed out several irregularities in the way NEET PG exam 2024 was held. Multiple postponements of exam date, non-disclosure of answer key, normalisation method, and raw scores secured by candidates have been major concerns of over 2 lakh aspirants.

Ripple effect on state counselling

On the first day of NEET PG Supreme Court hearing 2024, the then Chief Justice of India noted the “very unusual” measure to change the exam pattern days before the test. The irregularities have also caused a ripple effect on state NEET PG counselling as well.

For instance, a total of 45 doctors have filed a plea in the Rajasthan High Court alleging discrepancies in the provisional state merit list issued by the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) on November 22. A similar case has been filed in Madhya Pradesh court, which also found errors in PG medical admissions. The Rajasthan HC making a note of the ongoing legal challenges said that the errors may not be limited to Rajasthan.

The Himachal Pradesh state merit list for NEET PG counselling 2024 was also tweaked due to the “revision of incentives allocated to Dr Rajkumar by Director Health Service, Shimla from 10.071 to 2.948”.

Controversy behind NEET PG normalisation

A day before the NBEMS conducted the NEET PG 2024 exam, the board announced its decision to adopt the normalisation method used by AIIMS for its entrance exams. But, there was no clarity. The normalisation method is used to calculate the performance of the candidates due to the varying difficulty-levels of the exams held in multiple shifts.

According to reports, candidates in Madhya Pradesh alleged that those with higher marks and incentive marks were allotted lower rank in state merit list, which has led to the legal proceedings. Students claimed that those with lower rank in NEET PG were getting admission, while high scorers struggle to grab a seat.