SC to hear tomorrow plea against new disclosure mechanism of answer keys in NEET-PG

August 31, 2025

New Delhi: The Supreme Court is slated to hear on Monday a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by a group of NEET-PG 2025 aspirants challenging a “corrective notice” issued by the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) on August 21.

Petitioners Question Transparency in Answer Key Disclosure
The petitioners, who are qualified doctors, claimed that the new disclosure mechanism of answer keys is “opaque, unintelligible and incapable of meaningful verification”. The corrective notice amended NBEMS’ earlier circular and mandated that candidate responses and answer keys would be displayed only with reference to ‘Question ID Numbers’ from a master set of the question paper.

Issue With Shuffled Question Sequencing
Since the exam was conducted with shuffled sequencing of questions and options, the petitioners argued that this format deprives them of a “clear and candidate-wise mapped view of the questions actually attempted by them”. They said it frustrates the purpose of publishing answer keys and prevents candidates from cross-checking their responses or raising objections against discrepancies.

Violation of Constitutional Rights Alleged
The plea, filed by advocate Satyam Singh, contended that the Question-ID-only system violates Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution by denying candidates a fair and transparent admission process. It stressed that the grievance is not about re-evaluation but about the manner and format of disclosure. The petitioners demanded disclosure of questions in the order attempted, the candidates’ responses, the official correct answers, and the marks awarded.

Citing Precedents and Other Exams’ Practices
The petition referred to previous Supreme Court directions mandating transparency in NEET-PG evaluations, including the publication of raw scores, answer keys, and the normalisation formula. It also noted that exams like IIT-JEE, CLAT, and AIIMS INI-CET follow candidate-wise response disclosure. With limited postgraduate seats and intense competition, the petitioners warned that without corrective directions, the “sanctity of NEET-PG will remain compromised”.