Prayagraj: A PIL petition has been filed before Allahabad High Court challenging decision of the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) to allow counselling of SC/ST/OBC students who scored -40 (Minus 40) out of 800 marks in the NEET-PG 2025 exams. The PIL is likely to be taken up by the court soon.The petitioner, advocate Abhinav Gaur, has termed the move unconstitutional and in violation of Article 16 of the Constitution of India, which provides equal opportunity in matter of public employment. The plea challenges the decision on the grounds that a substantial reduction in cut-off marks for NEET-PG 2025 will undermine the sanctity of a merit-based selection process.The PIL added that after more than 18,000 seats remained vacant following second round of counselling, the board reduced drastically the qualifying criteria, setting the score at -40/800 for SC/ST/OBC category.The petition also pointed out that in the general (EWS) category, the cut-off had been reduced from 276 to 103, whereas in the general-PwBD category, it has been reduced from 255 to 90. However, in SC/ST/OBC category, the same was reduced from 235 to -40 marks, which, the PIL plea argues, will adversely impact public health and patient safety, which are matters of paramount public concern and involve a high level of academic precision, as pleaded by the petitioner. It was pleaded further that doctors of such poor academic level, reaching not even the minimum threshold to qualify for the examination, would affect right to health and life under Article 21.
