NEW DELHI: The Centre on Tuesday informed the Supreme Court that it has constituted an expert committee headed by the Director General of Health Services (DGHS) to examine issues arising from the reduction of qualifying cut-off percentiles for the NEET-PG 2025-26 examination.
A Bench of Justices P.S. Narasimha and Alok Aradhe was hearing a PIL challenging the decision to lower the qualifying cut-off for postgraduate medical admissions.
Appearing for the Centre, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati said the committee had been formed in compliance with the court's earlier directions and sought eight weeks to complete its exercise and submit a report.
Taking the DGHS office order dated July 23 on record, the court directed the committee to invite suggestions from stakeholders and submit its report within eight weeks. The matter has been listed for hearing thereafter.
The committee, chaired by DGHS Dr Loveneesh G. Krishna, includes representatives from the Directorate General of Health Services, National Board of Examinations (NBE), National Medical Commission (NMC), National Testing Agency (NTA), Union Health Ministry and National Informatics Centre (NIC). It has been tasked with auditing the existing NEET admission system, identifying gaps and recommending practical reforms.
The PIL, filed by advocate Satyam Singh Rajput, challenges the reduction of qualifying percentiles after the declaration of results and two rounds of counselling, alleging it is arbitrary and compromises the quality of medical education and patient safety.
The Centre has defended the decision, saying it was taken to prevent nearly 20,000 postgraduate medical seats from remaining vacant. It said the revised cut-off made over one lakh additional candidates eligible for the third round of counselling without affecting inter se merit and noted that a similar reduction to zero percentile was implemented in 2023. The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) said it had no role in deciding the revised cut-off and only implemented the policy. (IANS)