The Supreme Court on Monday said the Union government will have to satisfy it that the drastic reduction in the qualifying percentile for NEET-PG 2025 counselling and “virtually bringing it to zero” did not compromise the quality of medical education in the country.
“You will have to satisfy us that this drastic reduction in the cut-off, virtually bringing it to zero, does not affect the quality of the education. We are concerned about the quality of the medical education,” a bench of justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe told the Centre’s counsel.
The court issued formal notices on a batch of petitions challenging the reduction in cut-off and posted the matter for hearing next week.
Senior advocates Pinki Anand, Gopal Sankaranarayanan and DS Naidu appeared for the petitioners, while additional solicitor general Aishwarya Bhati represented the Centre.
In its affidavit filed before the court, the Union government defended the decision to lower the qualifying percentile, arguing that the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for Postgraduate courses (NEET-PG) is not meant to certify minimum clinical competence.
“NEET-PG is not to certify minimum competence which stands established by the MBBS qualification itself of the candidates but to generate an inter se merit list for allocation of limited postgraduate seats. The NEET-PG scores are a function of relative performance and examination design which cannot be construed as determinative of clinical incompetence,” the affidavit stated.
{{/usCountry}}“NEET-PG is not to certify minimum competence which stands established by the MBBS qualification itself of the candidates but to generate an inter se merit list for allocation of limited postgraduate seats. The NEET-PG scores are a function of relative performance and examination design which cannot be construed as determinative of clinical incompetence,” the affidavit stated.
{{/usCountry}}The Centre emphasised that all candidates appearing for NEET-PG are already qualified MBBS doctors who have completed 4.5 years of academic training across multiple medical specialties, followed by a compulsory one-year rotating internship. To obtain the MBBS degree, candidates must secure at least 50% marks separately in theory and practical examinations.
Addressing apprehensions relating to patient safety, the affidavit contended that postgraduate training is a supervised process. “All candidates admitted to postgraduate courses are already licensed MBBS practitioners. As MBBS doctors, they are entitled to practice independently. During postgraduate training candidates function under constant supervision of senior faculty and specialists,” it states.
The Centre further highlighted that MD/MS degrees require candidates to secure at least 50% marks separately in theory and practical examinations at the exit stage, without any relaxation, thereby preserving standards at the point of certification.
The decision to reduce the percentile cut-off, the affidavit said, was taken in view of a large number of anticipated vacant seats.
For the academic session 2025-26, around 70,000 postgraduate seats were available, while 224,029 candidates appeared for NEET-PG. Of the 31,742 seats under the All-India Quota, 9,621 remained vacant after Round 2 of counselling. Of these, 5,213 vacant seats were in government medical colleges, including AIQ and DNB seats.
According to the government, the reduction in percentile would make an additional 100,054 candidates eligible for the third round of counselling, taking the total number of eligible candidates to 228,170.
After completion of Round 3 of AIQ counselling, 2,988 seats remain vacant and will be available in the next round, the Centre informed the court.
The Union also pointed out that reduction of qualifying percentile is not unprecedented. Since the inception of NEET-PG in 2017, percentile reductions have been effected in appropriate circumstances to prevent seat wastage. In the academic year 2023 as well, the qualifying percentile was reduced to zero across categories.
The affidavit further said that policy decisions fall outside the scope of judicial review unless shown to be manifestly arbitrary, mala fide or violative of statutory or constitutional provisions. The NEET-PG 2025 examination was conducted on August 3, 2025, and results were declared on August 19.