SC orders NEET-PG to be held in single shift, calls two-shift plan arbitrary

In a significant decision impacting thousands of medical aspirants, the Supreme Court on May 30 ordered the National Board of Examinations (NBE) to conduct the NEET-PG 2025 examination in a single sitting for all 240,000 candidates, instead of holding it in two separate shifts as originally planned on June 15 across 900 centers nationwide.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sanjay Kumar, and N V Anjaria questioned the justification behind conducting the exam in two shifts.

“Holding the examination in two shifts is arbitrary and does not allow candidates to have the same question paper. Any two different question papers will vary in their difficulty levels,” the bench observed.

The court dismissed the NBE’s reference to IIT-JEE’s practice of using multiple question sets and normalization, saying that such measures are acceptable only in “exceptional circumstances” and should not become a regular method.

The bench instructed the NBE to identify and set up additional examination centers to facilitate a single-shift NEET-PG.

It also made it clear that if the board required more time to make arrangements and needed to postpone the June 15 exam, it must first obtain the court’s permission.