The Supreme Court today, Monday, May 5, issued notice to the Union of India, the National Medical Commission (NMC), and the National Board of Examinations (NBE) in response to a plea filed by the United Doctors’ Front (UDF) challenging the conduct of the NEET PG 2025 exam in two separate shifts.

A bench headed by Justice BR Gavai took note of the petition and scheduled the matter for hearing next week, as per a report by ANI.

The writ petition, filed under Article 32 of the Constitution on May 1 (Diary No. 23782/2025), calls for the examination to be conducted in a single shift across the country to ensure fairness, uniformity, and transparency.

The petition argues that holding the exam in multiple shifts, each with different question papers, compromises the fundamental rights of candidates under Articles 14 and 21 — specifically the right to equality and to a merit-based evaluation. The plea also raises concerns over the normalisation process used to account for variations in difficulty between shifts, stating that it lacks transparency and does not adequately level the playing field for all aspirants.

The move comes amid mounting anxiety among NEET PG candidates over the fairness of the exam format.

The decision to conduct NEET-PG 2025 in two shifts has drawn sharp criticism from medical professionals and aspirants, who argue that unequal difficulty levels across sessions may impact results unfairly.

Other medical associations, including the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA), have also publicly opposed the two-shift format and urged NBE to restore the single-shift model to ensure parity in evaluation.