ORDER

Sachdeva, J. --1. Petitioners, who are all in-service candidates and had appeared in the NEET – Post Graduate 2024 (‘NEET-PG’ for short) examination, seek a direction to the Respondents to redraw the State Merit list for the in-service candidates.

2. The dispute pertains to the State Merit List for the State of Madhya Pradesh. As per the Petitioners who are in-service candidates of the State of Madhya Pradesh (hereinafter referred to as ‘in-service candidates’), their merit in the All India List is higher than some of the other in-service candidates but in the State List they have been shown lower in the Merit.

3. NEET-PG examination was initially scheduled to be held on 23.6.2024 in a single shift, however the same was postponed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on 22.6.2024. To ensure additional measures of security and to maintain sanctity of the examination, it was decided to conduct the examination at limited test centres. Accordingly, it was notified on 5.7.2024 that the NEET-PG examination would be held on 11.8.2024 in two shifts.

4. National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS for short) which conducted the test, in its Reply has contended that the qualifying criteria for NEET-PG as prescribed in the Post Graduate Medical Education Regulations notified by the National Medical Commission is based on percentile. For General/EWS the eligibility criteria is 50th percentile; for UR PwD, it is 45th percentile and for SC/ST/OBC (including PwD of SC/ST/OBC) it is 40th percentile.

5. In view of the above eligibility criteria, NBEMS notified on 9.8.2024 that the percentile based normalisation process, which was being used by All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi for its various examinations conducted in more than one shift, would be adopted.

6. As per the NBEMS, to eliminate bias in distribution of candidates, equal numbers of candidates were randomly allotted different groups (shifts). Further, with a large population of examinees spread over the entire country, possibility of bias becomes remote. The overall merit/ranking is based on the percentile score of the ‘Raw score’ obtained by the candidates in their respective shift and tie-breaking criteria as per the Information Bulletin for NEET-PG – 2024. Percentiles upto 7 decimal places for the raw score are calculated and the percentile score for the raw scores for both the shifts are merged and arranged so as to derive an overall merit list/ranking. The percentile score is the relative performance of all those who have appeared for the examination.

7. As per the reply filed by NBEMS, All India NEET – PG 2024 rank was based on percentile obtained as per the notified normalisation process. It is contended that several States/Union Territories in India have a provision to award additional incentivised marks in NEET – PG to their in-service candidates who have served in rural/hard posting. The incentivised marks in percentage of the raw scores obtained differ from State to State ranging from 0.263% to 35%.

8. In the State of Madhya Pradesh, in-service candidates who have served in rural/hard posting are entitled to 10%, 20% and 30% incentivised marks in percentage of their raw scores based on the period of completed service in rural/hard area. Candidates who have completed one year are entitled to 10%, and those who have completed two years, 20% and those more than three years, 30% incentivised marks of their raw scores.

9. Both, Dr. Subodh Kumar, Executive Director NBEMS and Dr. N.I. Iboyaima Mangang, Additional Director (Medical) NBEMS explained the methodology adopted for preparation of the All India ranking and the State ranking. They also submitted a State list and a note of their submissions. As per them, both the list and the note of submissions contain certain data which is confidential and not in public domain. Consequently, we are not mentioning the names of candidates or their raw scores in the order. The State List and note