Supreme Court to Resume Hearing on NEET PG Transparency Case Tomorrow

New Delhi:The Supreme Court of India will continue hearing the NEET PG case on Friday, addressing concerns raised by students over the transparency of the examination's results and normalization process. The petitioners have urged the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) to release the NEET PG answer keys, response sheets, raw and pre-normalized scores, as well as the normalized results for all shifts.
Background of the Petition.

The case was first filed on September 7, with the first hearing held on September 13. A three-judge bench, led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and including Justices Manoj Misra and JB Pardiwala, took up the matter during the hearing on September 20. The main point of contention is the NBEMS’s adoption of the normalization process for this year's NEET PG, following a new two-shift exam format.
The petitioners argue that transparency is lacking in how the scores were calculated. They demand that releasing the NEET PG answer keys and question papers should become standard practice to ensure fairness in the process. They have also requested the suspension of the ongoing counseling process until all issues regarding the normalization process and result transparency are adequately addressed.

The New Two-Shift Format
This year, NEET PG was conducted in two shifts for the first time, on August 11. The first shift ran from 9 AM to 12:30 PM, and the second shift took place from 3:30 PM to 7 PM. Traditionally, the exam has been conducted in a single-shift format. However, the introduction of the two-shift system required NBEMS to implement a normalization process to ensure that scores from different shifts could be fairly compared.
NBEMS adopted the normalization process used by AIIMS-New Delhi for its exams, including the INI-CET, which also runs in multiple shifts. According to NBEMS, this method ensures fairness when exams are conducted at different times, accounting for any variation in the difficulty level across shifts.

Transparency Concerns
The petitioners have expressed concerns over the lack of clarity on how this normalization process was applied in the NEET PG results. They are demanding access to the raw scores and normalized results to verify the fairness of the process.In the first hearing, the petitioners argued that the NBEMS should release all exam-related data to foster transparency and trust. They claim that providing this information will ensure that students are aware of how their scores were determined and can understand the methodology used to compare different shifts.
As the Supreme Court resumes the hearing tomorrow, the petitioners hope for a ruling that will mandate greater transparency in the NEET PG result process. Medical aspirants across the country are awaiting the court's decision, which could potentially impact the current NEET PG counseling process.