Breaking: Supreme Court Dismisses Pleas Seeking Postponement Of NEET PG 2023
The Supreme Court has refused to postpone the NEET PG exam scheduled on March 5. The Court has dismissed the pleas praying for the same.
The Bench comprising Justice S. Ravindra Bhat and Justice Dipankar Datta said after hearing parties, "we will let it lie". The Court also refused to entertain applications for impleadment.
Senior Advocate Gopal Shankaranarayanan for the petitioners submitted that even if everyone decides to sit for PG, it will be sixty-seven thousand. He submitted that Jammu & Kashmir and Chattisgarh are excluded. He also submitted that in previous years the gap between the last date of internships and exams was short. He also pointed out earlier instances of postponement of the exam. He said that there is no advantage of pushing the exam in a hurry.
The Bench asked if the students were not aware of the consequences when they sought postponement of the internship.
Senior Advocate Vivek Tankha also for some petitioners submitted that the date of the internship was declared without consulting the states.
Aishwarya Bhati, Additional Solicitor General, who appeared for the National Board of Examination submitted that the exam was announced six months back. She submitted that admit cards were issued today. She said that out of the 17 who have approached the Court, more than 10 completed their internship last year and only 3 will fall in the extended period of internship. She said that Counselling will start on July 15 and it will accommodate 98% of the participating doctors and the rest will be provisionally permitted.
She also submitted that a large number of administrative preparation has been done for the exam and that there is no date available with the technology partner in the near future. She said that only 5000 additional applications were received after the deadline was extended.
The Bench said that the petitioners' submission that 45 thousand more may join them cannot be correct.
On Friday, the Supreme Court sought data from the National Board of Examination, inter-alia, as to the number of additional applications which were received for NEET PG examination after the cut-off date for completion of the internship was extended.
“We will keep it on Monday, February 27. We are not indicating we are postponing. We are not passing any order either way,” said Supreme Court on Friday.
Before the Supreme Court took up the pleas for hearing, the National Medical Commission issued a Speaking Order on its website saying that the NEET PG examination will be conducted on March 5 as scheduled, while rejecting the representation made by the petitioners who earlier approached the Telangana High Court.
Writ Petitions were filed under Article 32 of the Constitution seeking direction to defer the NEET-PG 2022-23 examination by three months in view of the revised internship cut-off date of August 11, 2023 and further in view of the fact that the counselling will not start before that date in terms of Clause 4.4 of the Information Bulletin.
On February 15, a Division Bench of the High Court for the State of Telangana refused to postpone the NEET PG examination. It was contended before the High Court that sufficient time was not granted to the medical students who graduated in the year 2021-22 to prepare for the entrance examination.
Cause Title- Ganesh Pawar & Ors. v. Union of India
