In what may come as a blow to thousands of aspirants, the Supreme Court refused to entertain pleas seeking postponement of NEET PG 2023 today, February 27. The exam will now be held on March 5 as scheduled.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the National Board of Examinations (NBE, which conducts the exam), submitted the admit cards for the exam issued today, as per the timetable. "There is no date available in the near future with our technology partner to conduct the exam," she added, as per a report by PTI.
A bench comprising Justices SR Bhat and Dipankar Datta was hearing two petitions seeking postponement of NEET PG 2023. On February 7, NBE, owing to the students' demands, extended the internship cut-off date to August 11, as with the older cut-off date of June 30, thousands of aspirants were ineligible. The petitioners submitted before the bench that the newly eligible students did not have enough time to study.
"If NBE had directly released the cut-off date when the information bulletin was released in January 2023, there would have been no issues. How can a candidate who got permission to apply barely 25 days prior to the examination be equal to the candidates who had permission to apply 60 days prior to the examination?" they argued, according to a report by LiveLaw. The petitioners also submitted that with the extended internship deadline, the counselling would start 5 months later.
However, ASG Bhati countered both arguments. "In the first window, nearly two lakh three thousand students applied. Only six thousand students applied after the internship deadline was extended. So, the demand is only by a minority," she said, adding, "NBE plans to commence counselling by July 15 and the students who are yet to complete the internship will be dealt with provisionally," as per LiveLaw.
She also pointed out the Centre was trying to set the exam calendar back to the pre-pandemic standards. The bench accepted these submissions and dismissed the petitions.
