SC dismisses plea challenging NMC's decision to cancel NEET-SS exam

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed the plea challenging the National Medical Commission (NMC) decision to cancel the NEET-Super Speciality (NEET-SS) examination.

The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Super Speciality (NEET-SS) can be taken by doctors having post-graduate degrees like MD, MS, and DNB, or an equivalent qualification for admission to super-speciality courses.

The petition was filed by thirteen doctors under Article 32 of the Constitution.

The bench of CJI DY Chandrachud, Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra observed that the data given by the National Medical Commission suggested that at least 40% of the students who take the NEET-SS are from the immediately preceding batch. The bench noted that the petitioners, who have appeared in the NEET-SS before, would not be prejudiced if the exam is deferred to next year. However, if the exam is held this year, then the 2021 Post-Graduate batch students, who would be completing their courses only in January 2025, would lose their chance.

Therefore, the bench observed that the decision of the NMC is "fairly equitable" and cannot be termed as "arbitrary." Though the bench agreed that the delay in the exam will cause some hardship to the petitioners, such hardship has to be balanced with the other concerns raised by the NMC.

According to the National Medical Commission, the reason for not conducting the NEET-SS 2024 exam stems from the delayed admissions for MD, MS, and DMB courses through the NEET-PG exam in the 2021 academic year. Due to COVID-19, these admissions were held from January 2022 to May 2022, pushing the course completion to January 2025. The NMC decided to postpone the NEET-SS 2024 exam to accommodate these students.