Supreme Court Responds to Petition Against NEET SS Exam Pattern 2021

The Supreme Court has released an official response to a petition about the NEET SS exam pattern; filed by 41 post-graduate doctors today, 20 September 2021. The petitioners, who are currently Super Specialty medical programme aspirants, have challenged the recent updates regarding the NEET SS 2021. Recently, the NBE had issued several updates to the super-speciality medical entrance examination’s pattern. The petition has objected to these “abrupt”, “last minute” changes.

Earlier, the National Board of Examinations had formally released the exam notification on 23 July 2021. However, the board announced an addendum regarding the assessment on 31 August 2021, which features several changes to the examination pattern. Originally, super speciality-related topics covered 60% of the questions. Meanwhile, the remaining 40% of the question paper encompassed general medical knowledge. However, this year’s changes have resulted in all the questions stemming from general medical topics. These modifications have effectively changed the purpose of the assessment, moving the focus of the questions to general medicine.

Supreme Court Justices BV Nagarathna and DY Chandrachud heard the written petition, represented by Senior Advocate Shyam Divan. Advocate Divan argued that the shift in the marks distribution harms the chances of students from specialities other than general medicine. Furthermore, the petitioners combated the fact that these major changes occurred more than a month after the original notification was available. Moreover, the board had previously set a precedent in 2018 and 2019, which they have now failed to meet. Earlier, NBE officials issued a public notice six months before making changes to the NEET SS exam pattern. However, this major update has left applicants with only two months to readjust. After the hearing, the Supreme Court has decided to hold another session on 27 September 2021 for further consideration.