Supreme Court turns down NBE's request to hold NEET-PG in 2-shifts: ‘Different question papers can never be same’

The Supreme Court on Friday, May 30, turned down National Board of Examination's request to hold NEET-PG exam in 2-shifts and observed that different question papers vary in terms of difficulty level and can never be same, Live Law reported. A bench comprising Justice Vikram Nath, Justice Sanjay Kumar, and Justice NV Anjaria presided over the hearing.

The apex court directed the Examination authority to identify sufficient centres and make arrangements to conduct the NEET-PG examination in a single shift to ensure fairness and avoid malpractice. The court reasoned that holding NEET-PG 2025 in two shifts creates arbitrariness and is unfair. It observed that two examination papers have different difficulty levels and can never be the same.

The Court questioned, “How can it stay the same? there are different question papers. They can never be the same.” The petitioners argued that the double-shift exam prioritises "luck" over “merit.”

‘Make arrangements for holding exam in one shift’

The top Court observed, “Holding the exam in two shifts leads to arbitrariness and cannot give a level playing field. The question papers in the two shifts can never be of the same difficulty level. Last year it may have been held in two shifts in the facts and circumstances of that stage. But the examining body ought to have considered making arrangements for holding the examination in one shift,” in the order dated May 30.

Meanwhile, NBE represented by Senior Advocate Maninder Acharya argued that online exam centres are limited and all important examinations in which large number of candidates appear take place in two shifts, citing lack of infrastructure, access to good computers and safety-security concerns. He further noted that the Board ensures appropriate difficulty level of both the shifts, asserting that no prejudice is caused to any candidate.

After ensuring same difficulty level, normalisation is done to ensure that even a slight difference between difficulty level is eliminated, the NBE's counsel added.

The bench was not convinced by these counter arguments and pointed out that NEET-UG, which has more candidates, was not conducted in double-shift.