$~78 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI + W.P.(C) 848/2026 & CM No.4156/2026 SANCHIT SETH .....Petitioner Through: Mr. Nikhil Sehrawat & Mr. Devbrat Shrivastav, Advocates.

Versus NATIONAL BOARD OF EXAMINATION IN MEDICAL SCIENCES & ORS. .....Respondents Through: Mr. Waize Ali Noor, Mr. Mrinal Kumar Sharma, Mr. Shashi Suman & Mr. Zillur Rahman, Advocates for R-1. Mr. T. Singhdev, Mr. Abhijit Chakravarty, Mr. Tanishq Srivastava, Mr. Bhanu Gulati, Ms. Yamini Singh, Mr. Vedant Sood & Ms. Ramanpreet Kaur, Advocates for R-2.

Ms. Manisha Agrawal Narain, Ms. Aditi Singh & Mr. Nipun Jain, Advocates for R-3&4.

CORAM:

HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE TEJAS KARIA

O R D E R

% 21.01.2026

1. The Petitioner has filed this Petition in the nature of Public Interest Litigation. The Petitioner claims to be a public spirited individual and is a qualified advocate.

2. The Petitioner has challenged the Notice dated 13.01.2026 revising the cut-off scores of National-Eligibility-cum-Entrance-Examination-Post Graduate for admission to Post Graduate courses of study in medicine for the academic session 2025-2026 based on the said examination after lowering of qualifying percentiles (“Impugned Notice”). The Petitioner seeks direction to the Respondents to restore the original qualifying criteria mentioned in NEET-PG 2025 Information Bulletin. The Petition also seeks direction to the Respondents to conduct a comprehensive study for examining the reason for large number of vacant seats despite availability of homogeneous number of eligible students.

3. The learned Counsel for the Petitioner submitted that Respondent No. 1 - National Board of Examination in Medical Sciences acting under the direction of Respondent No. 3 - Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, arbitrarily reduced the qualifying cut-off percentile for the NEET-PG 2025 Examination after the commencement of the admission process. It was submitted that the Respondents are statutorily mandated to maintain the highest standards of medical education and ensure the induction of high-quality professionals into the public health system. The decision to lower the eligibility criteria mid-stream, solely to fill approximately 9000 vacant seats, represents a fundamental departure from the qualifying standards originally prescribed in the NEET-PG 2025 Information Bulletin. The post-facto dilution of academic merit contravenes the public policy and prioritising seat occupancy over professional competence poses a significant risk to the integrity of specialized medical services and, by extension, the Right to Health under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, 1950.

4. Respondent No. 1 issued Information Bulletin for NEET-PG 2025 providing the details for the students, who had sought admission in various colleges across India for the Post Graduate courses. The scope of examination was a single eligibility-cum-entrance examination, and no other State Government / Private Medical College / Universities were permitted to conduct any separate entrance examination. The NEET-PG 2025 Information Bulletin provided the qualifying criteria for various categories of students as under:

5. The NEET-PG 2025 Information Bulletin further stated that the eligibility criteria for participation in counselling towards allotment of PG seats conducted by designated counselling authority shall be in accordance with the Post Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 2023 notified by the National Medical Commission with the prior approval of the Government of India.

6. The NEET-PG 2025 was conducted on 03.08.2025 with more than 2.42 lakh students appearing in the exam for filling the vacancy of around 52,000 PG medical seats. The result of NEET-PG 2025 was published on 19.08.2025, as per which 1.28 lakh students were found eligible