NEET panel proposes shift to rank-based merit: Govt to SC

New Delhi: The Centre on Tuesday informed the Supreme Court that a 12-member expert committee reviewing the NEET-PG admissions system has recommended replacing the existing percentile-based qualifying criteria with a rank-based merit system for both NEET-PG and the NEET-SS (Super Speciality).

The committee's report, placed before a division bench of justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe, said that the National Medical Commission (NMC) had given in-principle approval to the proposal. A draft regulation is expected to be issued shortly for stakeholder consultation, with the proposed changes envisaged from 2027.

The panel also recommended reducing fees for non-clinical PG courses and exempting candidates admitted to pre-clinical and para-clinical courses from service bonds to address the recurring problem of vacant postgraduate medical seats.


It further suggested that the NMC, National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences and National Testing Agency (NTA) provide verified details of available seats well before the counselling process begins. The Medical Counselling Committee should prepare a fixed counselling schedule for each academic year and course and submit it to the SC for ratification, it said.

The committee also recommended introducing standard operating procedures for counselling, updated annually, along with KYC and biometric verification to prevent candidates from appearing in exams merely to block seats. It suggested holding additional counselling rounds and measures to address persistently vacant seats, including examining the discontinuation of courses where seats are vacant for two to three consecutive years.

The report follows the SC's direction to the Centre to conduct a comprehensive audit of the NEET admission system and suggest practical solutions. The exercise was initiated after petitions challenged the sharp reduction in qualifying cut-offs for NEET-PG 2025-26. The qualifying threshold for General/EWS candidates was reduced from the 50th percentile (276 marks) to the seventh percentile (103 marks). For General PwBD candidates, it was lowered from the 45th percentile (255 marks) to the fifth percentile (90 marks). For SC, ST and OBC candidates, including PwBD candidates, it was reduced from the 40th percentile (235 marks) to zero percentile (minus 40 marks).

The petitioners have argued that such reductions compromise standards in PG medical education and raise concerns over patient safety. The Centre, however, has maintained that NEET-PG generates an inter se merit list for allocating the limited number of PG seats, while minimum competence is established through the MBBS qualification.

During Tuesday's hearing, counsel for one of the petitioners questioned what practical difference a rank-based system would make and argued that the committee had proposed a change in the system instead of addressing concerns over the reduction in qualifying marks.