NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the Centre’s decision to reduce the cutoff for post-graduate medical college admissions through NEET-PG 2023 exam to zero percentile.
“You have no locus...absent any interest of the petitioner in this case, the petition is dismissed,” a bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud said.
Although the plea was not listed before the bench, also comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Mishra, on Monday, the court agreed to consider the same after it was mentioned by a counsel.
“I’m only saying what kind of health facilities will they give? They’ll be super specialists,” the lawyer said while convincing the bench to consider the petition.
“What can a lawyer know about the cutoff for NEET-PG?” It’s a busy body,” CJI DY Chandrachud said while raising questions regarding the lawyer’s locus to challenge the decision.
Although NEET-PG cutoff is 50 for students from general/unreserved categories, 45 for PwD and 40 for students of other reserved categories, the Health Ministry on September 20, amid the ongoing admission season, had directed the National Medical Commission (NMC) to reduce the cutoff for qualifying percentile for National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET)-Post Graduate (PG) 2023 to “zero” across all categories.
The move will enable all those candidates who appeared for the test to go for the counselling.
The decision has drawn criticism as many feel “mediocre medical students” will secure seats in specialised postgraduate courses jeopardising public health.
It was on September 22 that the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) announced the decision of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to reduce the NEET-PG qualifying percentile.
“The qualifying percentile for NEET-PG counselling 2023 has been reduced to ‘ZERO’ across all categories by the MoHFW. In this regard, it is mentioned that Fresh Registration & Choice Filling for Round-3 of PG Counselling will be opened again for candidates who have become eligible after reduction of percentile,” the notice from MCC said.
As per the ministry, reducing the qualifying percentile for NEET PG 2023 to zero will increase the pool of qualifying candidates but not dilute the merit system for admission to PG medical courses.