Today, Thursday, May 15, the Supreme Court (SC), addressed a pivotal petition concerning the issue of transparency in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for Post-Graduation (NEET-PG) courses 2024 examination, and now has deferred the matter to Tuesday, May 20, as told to EdexLive.
The petitioners, led by Dr Ishika Jain and others, represented by Senior Advocate Nikhil Goel, alongside Advocate Tanvi Dubey and Avani Bansal, have been urging for increased transparency in the NEET-PG examination and the release of answer keys.
While the case was being heard today, the counsel emphasised the issue of the normalisation of marks, and the revaluation of marks and answer keys, according to LiveLaw.
While the advocates pressed on the urgency of the matter, noting that NEET-PG 2025 is scheduled to take place on June 15, 2025, and demanded a swift resolution to the issue.
The counsel representing the National Board of Examinations (NBE) mentioned that they would need additional time to review the case, stating that NEET-PG is conducted for super-speciality courses.
The court further acknowledged that the issue of normalisation of marks and the transparency in exams are unrelated issues, and hence, scheduled the next hearing for Tuesday, May 20.
According to LiveLaw, the counsel representing the petitioners, demanded that the NEET-PG 2024 answer keys be released, and question papers, alongside measures, should be taken to address the issue of transparency. The counsel further clarified that they had no objections to the normalisation process itself.
Another counsel highlighted that students have been caught in this cycle of a prolonged struggle, stating that they have been filing similar petitions since 2020, without any resolution, urging the court to address these preliminary points.
This battle for reform has been ongoing for a long time now. The petition was heard at the Supreme Court last on May 9, by Justices BR Gavai (now CJI), and Justice George Masih.
The NBE argued that the petition was “infructuous” since NEET-PG 2024 counselling had concluded, but the petitioners countered that their aim was a long-term systemic change, not just immediate relief. They further pointed out that NEET-PG is among the few national exams that do not provide answer keys, individual score breakdowns, or a grievance redressal mechanism.
