The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) informed the Supreme Court that over 95,000 additional candidates are now eligible for NEET-PG 2025 counselling. This follows a reduction in the qualifying cut-off percentile. NBEMS stated in a court affidavit that any intervention at this stage would directly impact these candidates.
The affidavit states that 95,913 more candidates qualified to participate in the NEET PG 2025 counselling after the cut-off reduction. NBEMS clarified it had no role in lowering the cut-off. The decision was made by the Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and the National Medical Commission.
This submission came in response to a petition challenging the drastic cut-off percentile reduction for NEET-PG 2025-26 admissions. The Supreme Court had issued notices to the government and relevant medical bodies on February 4. Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe are presiding over the case.
Cut-off Reduction Details
The cut-off reduction addresses the issue of over 18,000 vacant postgraduate medical seats nationwide. The qualifying percentiles for NEET-PG 2025 were revised. For reserved categories, the cut-off dropped to zero percentile. This means candidates scoring as low as minus 40 (out of 800) can now participate in the third round of PG medical seat counselling.
For the general category, the NEET PG cut-off was reduced from 50 percentile to seven percentile. This change significantly widens the pool of eligible candidates for postgraduate medical admissions.
Legal Challenge
A plea was filed by social worker Harisharan Devgan and doctors Saurav Kumar, Lakshya Mittal, and Akash Soni. The petitioners argue that the cut-off reduction violates Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution. These articles relate to equality before the law and protection of life and personal liberty.