NEET PG 2023 Postponement Supreme Court – The Supreme Court of India has completely refused to postpone the entrance exam of NEET PG 2023 on 27th February 2023.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has dismissed the NEET PG 2023 postponement petitions and all the Candidates registered for the exam will now have to appear on the 5th of March, 2023, as scheduled.
In this matter, the matter was heard by a bench of Justices S Ravindra Bhat and K K Rao, and an order was issued.
Despite several requests by candidates, the authorities, including the National Board of Examination and the Ministry of Health, have refused to postpone the NEET PG examination despite several requests by the candidates.
According to the aspirants, a date extension for the exam has been sought in order to reduce the gap between the date of the exam and the date of the completion of the internship for MBBS, which occurs around five months after the exam date.
There was also a clarification from Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya in the Parliament that the examination for the NEET PG 2023 would be held on the scheduled date of the 5th of March, 2023, as per the schedule.
Aspirants later approached the High Court of Telangana, Hyderabad, asking for a postponement of the exam because many interns had been unable to register earlier for the internships because their completion dates were beyond the previously declared cut-off dates for the internships. However, in a notice dated 07.02.2023, the cut-off date for completion of the internship was extended to 11.08.2023.
Accordingly, the petitioners have submitted their representation to NMC in response to the directions of the High Court, requesting that NEET PG 2023 be postponed by three months, so that they can prepare for this examination.
It was also requested that the NEET PG 2023 exam be postponed by 12-14 weeks by the Director of Medical Education, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, with a copy to the Chairman, NMC, as part of the representation sent to him.
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On the other hand, their representation was not able to be acceded to for the following reasons:
- A notice has already been placed on the NBE website on 16.09.2022 announcing the date of the upcoming exam, as it had already been fixed six months in advance.
- Initially, it was estimated that more than 200,000 students had already registered for the examination when the deadline for the completion of the internship was 31st March 2023, and they had not objected regarding the date of the examination.
- Several state governments/universities expressed interest in extending the cut-off date for internships to 11.08.2023, but surprisingly only 5000 additional applications were received, representing about 2% of the total candidates who will take the internship exam. In my opinion, if the NEET PG exam is postponed, there will be problems for 98% of the students who have been preparing for it and have sent a sign that they do not want the test to be rescheduled.
- Over 2 lakh students, across more than 800 centers, will be able to sit for the NEET PG exam in 2023. The exam will be held in more than 800 centers.
- After the completion of the counseling process, the Academic Session is planned to begin in July, 2023, or as soon as possible following that.
Having taken into consideration the aforementioned reasons, the NMC decided not to accept the representations and released its speaking order on Friday, the 24th of February.
Following the hearing of petitions before the Supreme Court on the same day, when the bench decided to defer the matter and asked the NBE for their responses to the matter, the bench deferred the matter.
The hearing of the 27th of February 2023, Morning in the top court began with the top court being presented with the compilation and an annual report of the academic year 2017-2018, which was the subject of today’s hearing.
The senior advocate representing the petitioners, Mr. Gopal Sankaranarayanan, pointed out that despite the fact that over 2 lakh candidates have registered for the NEET-PG, over one-third of them are students who have completed their graduation in previous years but were unable to complete their postgraduate studies in the previous terms. Moreover, it has always been the practice in the past for the gap between the deadline for the internship and the exam to not exceed two months, he pointed out.
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During the hearing, Justice Bhat asked whether the internship deadline had also been extended earlier. “So what you are saying is that the internship should not have been postponed in the first place, is that right?”? What is the number of times they have postponed the date in the past? ”
When GS informed the bench that there was a gap between internships and the exam date, he informed them, “They did the same thing last year as well.”. A table is located on page L of the SLP which shows the date of the exam and the date of the counseling session. All in all, there is just a 2 month gap between the two. There has been a gap of almost five months this time around.”
Would you be able to make the request for a postponement. You don’t need to take the test if you have not already done so. The situation has not changed for you,” Justice Bhat asserted and continued, “When I asked you if you wanted a postponement, you said that you didn’t want one. Some of them that you represent were happy with the timeline that was put in place.”
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In announcing the internship deadline to the bench, GS said that there were around 2 lakh candidates who had registered for the exam. It was your lordships’ concern as to whether or not the intern could have finished his internship so soon.”
In response to the bench’s observation that the internship extension for the last year was short, it stated, “So that pattern is that those who complete the internship in that year make up a sizeable number but may not make up the majority”.
Last year, the internship was extended for a shorter period of time than it was this year. The thing that is happening today is that you are pulling the cloth one way, and something is happening on the other side of the cloth. What is the best way to balance.”
Assuring the bench that the dates furnished to the court in support of the NBE’s decision on the exam date are the ones that were supplied to the bench, ASG, Aishwarya Bhati requested. As far back as six months ago, the date was announced. According to her, it is estimated that 2 lakh 3 thousand people applied in the first window.
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“The admit cards have been issued in accordance with the schedule today. The petitions of 17 petitioners have been drafted and presented to your lordship. She asserted that a total of 10 petitioners had completed internships during the past year.
On this issue, Justice Bhat held that, “We will not look into that.” Therefore, in this case, we intend to treat it as a class action.
We are interested in starting counselling as soon as the 15th of July 2022, rather than waiting until the 15th of August.
The remaining participants are expected to be able to participate provisionally and they will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. As far as our technology partner is concerned, there is no available date in the near future. ASG continues by saying that, after two years of a pandemic, they are trying to set the clock back.
Nearly two lakh three thousand applications were received in the first window of the application process. However, after the internship deadline was extended, only six thousand students applied for internships. As a result, only a minority of people are making the demand,” she added.
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NBE plans to commence counseling by the 15th of July, and the students who have not yet completed their internship will be treated provisionally until they complete their internship, according to ASG.
After carefully considering all the arguments, the Supreme Court has decided to dismiss all the petitions seeking to postpone the NEET PG 2023 examination scheduled for the 5th of March as a result of all the arguments.
As reported by Natcom India News Organization, the Supreme Court of India has refused to entertain the petitions seeking a postponement of the hearings.
Author’s Opinion:
The Honorable Supreme Court of India delivered a great judgment in this case. This will hopefully set a precedent for students in the future and discourage them from repeatedly approaching the courts to ask for postponements of exams, counseling, and joining dates. Regarding counseling this year, NBE MCC is prepared to begin the counseling process as early as possible this year. It is possible to allow a few hundred interns whose internships could qualify and get them PG seats to complete their internship and then take a break of one or two months before they join the PG courses exactly six months after the regular batch of 2023 joins the PG courses. It will not affect the functioning of hospitals due to their late joining since they will be in small numbers. Students who have just joined PG can take their MD and MS exams three years after they have joined PG…by doing so, they will be able to complete their internship and be able to join PG seats at the same time without having to lose or waste any time between their internship and PG seats.