Supreme Court issues notices to Centre, NMC, NBEMS on plea for transparency in foreign medical graduate exam

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday sought responses of the Centre, National Medical Commission (NMC) and the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) on a plea seeking disclosure of question papers, response sheets and official answer keys of the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) conducted in June this year.

A bench comprising Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe took note of the submissions of lawyer Tanvi Dubey, appearing for a group of 12 candidates including Sunil Kumar Meena who appeared in the FMGE in June this year and issued notice to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, NMC and NBEMS, which conducts the FMGE test.

The FMGE is held to serve as a mandatory licensing test ensuring that Indians who earn medical degrees abroad meet the clinical and educational standards required to practice medicine safely here.


Dubey referred to the main challenge of the petitioners and said that the two clauses of the FMGE information bulletin restrict the candidates from having the option of getting the answer key and question paper. Even the option for revaluation is restricted, as the question paper is not provided after the examination and the candidates are demanding greater transparency. The response sheet, as filled by the candidate, is also not provided, she said.

Moreover, there was no option of re-evaluation available to the candidates and they were left with no mechanism to verify their scores.

"There is no yardstick to verify their actual and expected score," Dubey said.

She said the impugned act of depriving the candidates of a mechanism which ensures transparency deprives them of their fundamental right guaranteed under Article 14, 19 and 21.

"Issue an appropriate order ...directing Respondent No. 1 (NBEMS) to provide the petitioners and similarly situated candidates with an effective, fair and transparent mechanism for verification and re-evaluation of the exam process and for correction of any discrepancy, if found, upon disclosure of the response sheets, question papers and official answer keys," it said.

The plea also seeks prospective directions requiring publication of provisional answer keys, consideration of candidates' objections by an independent expert panel, and disclosure of final answer keys in future FMGE examinations.

According to the petition, approximately 38,000 candidates appeared in the FMGE examination conducted on June 28 this year, with only around 4,000-4,500 candidates qualifying, resulting in a pass percentage of about 12.3 per cent, which the petition describes as one of the lowest in the examination's history.

The petition alleges that the June 2026 examination introduced around 12 video-based clinical questions without prior disclosure in the information bulletin, affecting candidates' preparation and performance.

It further said that after the results were declared, more than 5,000 candidates expressed concerns regarding the evaluation process by compiling grievances on a Google Form.