NEET PG 2025 Counselling: Supreme Court Asks NBEMS To Disclose Answer Key Policy

NEW DELHI: The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) has extended the deadline for choice-filling for Round 1 of NEET PG counselling for the 2025 academic year until further orders, giving the candidates more time to finalise their preferred colleges and courses.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has directed the National Board of Examinations (NBE) to disclose its policy on publishing answer keys for NEET PG exams, with a bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Vipul Pancholi asking the NBE counsel to file an affidavit clarifying its stand on the issue.

An MCC announcement, posted on its official website, says that candidates should regularly check for updates. According to the earlier released tentative schedule, choice filling and locking were originally scheduled from October 28 to November 5, 2025 for the 50 per cent All India Quota (AIQ), 100 per cent Deemed/Central Universities, and AFMS institutions.

The apex court was hearing a batch of petitions raising various issues concerning the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Postgraduate exams, particularly focusing on the disclosure of answer keys as a matter of transparency.

The NBE’s counsel submitted that these petitions were being pushed by coaching institutes seeking access to answer keys for question booklets, arguing that this would compromise the quality of the examination.

On September 26, a Bench comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and KV Viswanathan had issued notices to the Centre and the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) on petitions seeking publication of answer keys for NEET-PG 2025.

On April 29, the apex court directed the publication of raw scores, answer keys and normalisation formula for transparency. Previously, candidates had no access to answer keys or raw score details, leading to concerns about the fairness of the normalisation process.