Prayagraj: The Allahabad high court on Tuesday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the decision of the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) to allow the counselling of SC/ST/OBC students who scored -40 (minus 40) out of 800 marks in the NEET-PG 2025 exams.The petition was dismissed by a division bench comprising Chief Justice Arun Bhansali and Justice Kshitij Shailendra.When the matter was taken up, it was informed to the court that Delhi high court had already dismissed a PIL on the issue by saying that it’s a policy matter and court has nothing to do. It was also informed to the court that an another petition in the matter is pending before apex court on which court declined to interfere in the matter. The petitioner, Abhinav Gaur, had termed the move “unconstitutional being violative of Article 16 of the Constitution of India, which provides equal opportunity in the matter of public employment”. The plea challenges the decision on the grounds that a substantial reduction in the 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 the second round of counselling, the board drastically reduced the qualifying criteria, setting the score at -40/800 for the SC/ST/OBC category.The petition also pointed out that in the general (EWS) category, the cut-off has been reduced from 276 to 103, whereas in the general-PwBD category, it has been reduced from 255 to 90. In the 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 further pleaded that such a quality of doctors who do not have the minimum threshold to qualify for the examination would affect the right to health and life under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.
