New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday rejected the plea seeking to postpone the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for Postgraduate (NEET-PG 2022) examination stating that “any delay in conducting the exam will result in a fewer number of resident doctors.” The plea was filed by a group of doctors on the ground that it will clash with the ongoing counselling for NEET-PG 2021. More than 40,000 medical students have been protesting for the postponement of NEET PG 2022 exam which is scheduled to take place on May 21st, 2022.
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant said the postponement of the examination would create “chaos and uncertainty” and would affect the larger section of students, who have registered for the examination. “There are two categories of students — one which is seeking postponement and the larger category of over two lakh six thousand candidates — who would be affected by the postponement after having prepared for the examination”, the bench said.
It noted that the government is trying to bring back the schedule of examination on time as it was affected due to the pandemic. “As the country gets back on the rails, which was derailed due to the pandemic, the time schedule laid down by this court must be adhered to”, it said.
The plea, filed through advocates Ashutosh Dubey and Abhishek Chauhan, reads: “The petitioners are the doctors who are doing their requisite internship with different hospitals across the country. The petitioners aspire to appear in NEET-PG examination 2022 scheduled to be held on May 21 for the purpose of choosing their career option as per their ranking, choice, and available options to them under different branches of medical science for Post-Graduation Courses.”