NEET PG 2025: SC Seeks Responses On Plea Against Lowered Cut-off Percentiles By NBEMS

The Supreme Court has asked the Centre and other respondents to address a plea challenging the NBEMS’s decision to lower the qualifying cut-off percentiles for NEET-PG 2025-26. Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe issued notices to the Union of India, NBEMS, the National Medical Commission, and others, scheduling the next hearing for February 6, reported PTI.

The Board reduced the qualifying percentiles for NEET-PG 2025 admissions, with the cut-off for reserved categories dropping to zero from 40 percentile, thus allowing candidates with scores as low as minus 40 out of 800 to participate in the third round of counselling for PG medical seats. The cut-off for the general category was reduced to seven percentile from 50.

The plea, filed by social

worker Harisharan Devgan and doctors Saurav Kumar, Lakshya Mittal, and Akash Soni, argues that the cut-off reduction violates Articles 14 and 21 and contends that eligibility criteria should not be altered after the selection process has started. The petition emphasises that PG medical education should not be commercialised and regulatory authorities must uphold standards.

The medical community has widely criticised the NBEMS’s decision as “unprecedented and illogical.”

The Delhi High Court had earlier dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the government’s decision to reduce the qualifying cut-off marks for NEET PG 2025 admissions to postgraduate medical courses. The petitioner argued that significantly lowering the cut-off would degrade the quality of doctors entering specialist programmes and potentially compromise patient safety, a PTI report stated.

Rejecting the plea, a bench comprising Chief Justice DK Upadhayay and Justice Tejas Karia stated that the goal of higher education is to enhance skills and expertise, not to evaluate the overall quality of doctors. The court also questioned if leaving postgraduate medical seats vacant would serve the public interest.

The round 3 NEET PG seat allotment processing took place on February 2, with results announced on February 3. Candidates who are allotted seats must report to their respective colleges between today, February 4 and February 11.