4 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Feb 6, 2026 06:43 PM IST
The Supreme Court on Friday expressed concern over the reduction of NEET PG 2025 qualifying cut-offs to zero and negative marks. The court observed that a “minus 40” benchmark itself raises questions, even as the Centre repeatedly cited vacant postgraduate medical seats to justify the reduction.
During the hearing, the Bench comprising of Justice comprising Justice P S Narasimha and Justice Aradhe expressing concern said, “On one hand, we have to see that seats should not get wasted. At the same time, there is pressure that candidates are not coming, so please reduce the cutoff.” Adding, “Then the argument will be that the standards are being lowered and the counter-argument is that seats are going waste. So, somewhere there has to be a balance.”
“The Bench said that it also has concerns about a minus 40 cut-off, and that such a level cannot be acceptable,” Singh said. “The Union of India repeatedly kept saying that seats are lying vacant. The Bench acknowledged that seats may be vacant, but questioned the extent to which standards are being reduced.”
Further explaining what transpired during the hearing, Advocate Satyam Singh Rajput, for the petitioners, told indianexpress.com that the Bench was not convinced by the government’s argument that lowering the cut-offs was necessary only to ensure seats do not remain vacant.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Bench had heard the matter and had directed Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati to appear later in the week, on behalf of the NBEMS, NMC, and others.
According to Singh, the court flagged the dilution of eligibility norms — from lowering cut-offs marginally to permitting admissions at zero and then negative marks — as a matter of concern. “The Bench noted that today it is being reduced from 50 to 47, then to zero, and now from zero to minus 40. That trajectory itself is worrying,” he said.
The judges also took note of the Centre’s submission that candidates being admitted under the relaxed criteria are already “MBBS-qualified”. However, the petitioners raised the issue of competency, questioning whether that alone could justify admissions when candidates are unable to clear the NEET PG examination itself. “Yes, they are MBBS-qualified, but if a candidate is unable to pass the NEET PG exam and is scoring negative marks, that is a concern,” Singh said, explaining the court’s observation.
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Taking an overall view of the issue, the Bench directed the Union government to file a detailed affidavit responding to the concerns raised. While no specific date was fixed for filing the affidavit, Singh said the petitioners are likely to move a fresh application within a week, after which timelines would be decided by the court.
Notably, the Supreme Court did not grant any interim stay on the ongoing NEET PG 2025 counselling process. “There is no stay on the existing counselling schedule. The third round of counselling will continue as per schedule,” Singh clarified.
A public interest litigation challenging the January 13 Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) notification that reduced qualifying percentiles for NEET PG 2025–26 admissions, allowing eligibility at zero and negative marks, was filed by Harisharan Devgan, Dr Saurav Kumar, Dr Lakshya Mittal and Dr Akash Soni through Senior Advocate Sonia Mathur, along with Advocates Satyam Singh Rajput.
NEET-PG is the national-level eligibility-cum-ranking examination for MBBS graduates seeking admission to MD (Doctor of Medicine), MS (Master of Surgery), PG Diploma courses, and DNB (Diplomate of National Board) broad specialty programs across public and private medical institutions in India.
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