Today, August 9, the Supreme Court dismissed the petition to postpone the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test - Postgraduate (NEET-PG) 2024. A three-judge bench, led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, heard the case. The dismissal has triggered an outpouring of grievances on social media, with many claiming that the petition was rejected without proper consideration.
One netizen, @Meetastasis, commented, “This has to be the FUNNIEST court hearing I’ve ever seen. The CJIs were not acting as judges, they were acting as opposition! Didn’t even listen to the adv. pleading our case. Never have I ever seen all CJIs be so excited for a movie that they leave hearing midway!”
The two main contentions of the petitioners were far away allocation of exam city and arbitrary change at the last moment along with the exam being conducted in two shifts.
Advocate Sanjay Hedge, appearing for the petitioners, said that the exam centres were cut down from 1,200 to 500 and the NEET - Undergraduate (UG) irregularities row had affected the exams, stated a tweet by LiveLaw.
He also mentioned that he has received over 50,000 phone calls regarding NEET PG concerns and brought up the issue of normalisation as well.
The All India Students Dental Association (@dentodontics) tweeted, “So many cases filed by students are been dismissed….Why such behaviour towards students demand? Where students should go?”
During the hearing, the CJI remarked, "As a matter of principle we will not reschedule. Two lakh students and four lakh parents will suffer. The behest of five petitioners will push careers of two lakh students in jeopardy."
In response to this, @drwhowrites posted on social media, “Mockery of suffering of doctors. Doctors dint even demand postponement. Cji dint even allow them to state their grievance about far away centre allocation and normalisation.”
Another candidate, @dr_calvaria, wrote, “Apart from regretting being a doctor, I feel bad for our country's lawyers. Working for decades to become a top lawyer only to be not even heard during your valid argument and dismissed off like you're a waste of time. #neetpg”
The NEET-PG 2024 is scheduled to be held on August 11. To recall, shortly after the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) issued the examination city slips on July 31, candidates raised concerns about the exam centres being allocated far from their preferred locations, in certain cases even in different states.
