'Let things stand where they are': SC dismisses pleas to postpone NEET-PG 2023 exam
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The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the petitions seeking to postpone the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test post-graduate (NEET-PG) examination scheduled for March 5, 2023, by three months.
The Bench comprising Justice S Ravindra Bhat and Dipankar Datta refused to entertain the petitions observing that it cannot interdict the process when the consequences remain uncertain for several candidates who were not before it.
‘Let things stand where they are. Nothing in this world prevents anyone from trying again...It is an evolutionary process. Sometimes it can go wrong...We will just let it lie,’ said the court.
The Court further stated that never in the history of NEET PG was there a 5-month difference between the exam date and counselling date.
It was further contended that numerous Right to Information applications were filed by candidates in November seeking the eligibility criteria and examination date.
The petitions were filed by a group of doctors, aspirants of NEET-PG 2023-24, who complained that they are getting less time to prepare for exams as their one-year compulsory internships are ongoing.
Their plea to defer the NEET-PG exam was in view of a revised internship schedule that allows them time till July to complete their internship. Senior counsel Gopal Sankaranarayanan and Vivek Tankha appeared for the petitioners.
The bench had last Friday, posted the matter for today, to get the response of the National Board of Examinations. During the hearing last week, the court observed that a plea for postponement may impact those who have been eligible all this while and are anxiously waiting for the exam to take place.
‘There is agony caused to those who have been preparing when an exam is postponed. In our anxiety to balance your rights, we will be trampling on the rights of several others, it had observed.
NEET-PG is the entrance exam for various postgraduate courses in medicine, surgery and dental.
The plea was opposed by the Centre. Additional solicitor general (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati, who is appearing for the union government, said that all administrative arrangements were already in place and that no other date was available with the technology partner to conduct the exam in near future.
“Please, consider that we are trying to restore the calendar of two years back due to the pandemic. In the first window, nearly 203,000 students applied. Only 6,000 students applied after the internship deadline was extended,” she said, underlining that a large majority of the students were ready to sit for the exam.
The senior law officer also informed the bench that the counselling was likely to commence from July 15, without waiting for the August date. “The rest would be allowed to participate provisionally and would be considered on a case-by-case basis,” she said.
Satisfied with the ASG’s submissions, the bench decided to dismiss the petitions, keeping the current schedule intact.