The Supreme Court of India is set to hear a plea in the last week of May 2025 challenging the National Board of Examinations’ (NBE) decision to conduct the NEET PG 2025 examination in two different shifts. This plea has raised significant concerns about the fairness and transparency of the examination process.
The petition was mentioned before a bench led by Chief Justice of India BR Gavai and Justice AG Masih. During the hearing, the petitioners' counsel requested urgent listing of the case, highlighting that the examination process is set to begin soon.
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“This is regarding NEET PG of this year, we are challenging the two exams happening, the process starts in June, kindly have it on Monday,” said the counsel.
Responding to this, CJI BR Gavai said:
“Will keep it next week.”
The NEET PG 2025 is currently scheduled for June 15, and the results are expected to be declared by July 15.
Earlier on May 5, the Supreme Court had asked for responses from the National Board of Examinations, National Medical Commission, and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare regarding the matter.
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The main concern raised in the writ petition is that conducting the examination in two shifts could lead to unfairness due to variations in the difficulty level of the papers. Petitioners argue that this lack of uniformity violates Article 14, which guarantees the right to equality, and Article 21, which ensures the right to a fair process.
“Holding such an extensive examination in two shifts directly violates the rights of the candidates under Article 14, as maintaining just, fair, reasonable, and equitable grounds of competition is almost impossible because of the lack of transparency in the moderation and normalization process. It also violates Article 21 of the candidates, as the process violates the basic right to fair examination,” the plea states.
The plea also draws attention to issues seen during NEET PG 2024, which was held in a two-shift format and faced similar criticism. One of the key concerns raised was the difference in the number of questions per subject between the two shifts.
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The petition refers to an analysis by a prominent online coaching platform that revealed significant disparities in subject-wise question distribution across both shifts. This variation could lead to inflation or deflation of scores and result in unfair rankings.
“As can be clearly seen from the above, the number of questions from several subjects vary, which is likely to grant an undue advantage to several candidates. It will create inflation and variation in marks and rankings, violating the right to equality under Article 14 of the candidates. It is humbly submitted that to weed out such discrepancies and provide a uniform/equitable testing ground and fair competition, single shift is the only viable solution,” states the petition.
The petitioners argue that one group of candidates may end up facing a tougher paper than the other, as was claimed to have happened in 2024, where it was alleged that the second shift had an easier set of questions.
Considering these challenges, the petition urges the Court to direct the National Board of Examinations to conduct NEET PG 2025 in a single shift to ensure equal opportunity and fairness for all candidates.
“Therefore, it is prayed that the NEET PG 2025 be conducted in a single shift,” the plea concludes.
The outcome of this hearing could potentially impact the exam format for thousands of medical aspirants across the country.
Case Details: Dr. ADITI & ORS v. NATIONAL BOARD OF EXAMINATION IN MEDICAL SCIENCES & ORS| DIARY NO. - 22918/2025
