New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notice on a PIL challenging the decision of the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) to reduce the qualifying cut-off percentiles for the NEET-PG 2025-26 examination.
A bench comprising Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe took note of the challenge and directed that the matter be listed for further hearing on February 6.
The petition assails the NBEMS notification dated January 13, by which the qualifying cut-off percentiles for postgraduate medical admissions were lowered to what the petitioners describe as abnormally low levels, including zero and negative percentiles.
According to the petitioners, the reduction of qualifying standards for postgraduate medical education is arbitrary and violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.
The plea contends that diluting the cut-off compromises patient safety, public health, and the integrity of the medical profession. The petition argues that the decision, purportedly taken to fill vacant seats, effectively abolishes merit as a governing criterion and reduces a competitive national examination to a mere administrative exercise.
It further submits that medicine is a profession that directly implicates human life, bodily integrity, and dignity, and that institutionalising dilution of professional standards in such a field is impermissible.
It is also contended that the dilution of merit at the postgraduate level runs contrary to the statutory mandate of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019. The petition has been filed through advocate-on-record Neema, with assistance from advocates Satyam Singh Rajput and Adarsh Singh.
