The National Board of Examination has moved the Supreme Court seeking to conduct on August 3, the NEET-PG 2025 exam in one shift in line with the top court’s directions.

The National Board of Examination’s (NBE) plea said it would hold the examination, scheduled to take place on June 15, between 9 am and 12.30 pm.

The NBE’s plea, among other things, sought the top court’s “permission to schedule the NEET PG 2025 on August 3, 2025 which is the earliest possible available date given by its technology partner, i.e., M/s Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (TCS) in accordance with the directions passed by this vide order dated May 30, 2025”.

The plea said that NBE had previously decided to postpone the NEET-PG exam, initially scheduled on June 15, following the Supreme Court’s direction to hold it in a single shift instead of double shifts.

On May 30, the apex court chastised the NBE decision to hold the exam in two shifts.

The NBE informed the top court that soon after the May 30 order, it informed TCS about the top court’s directive in an email sent at around 1:21 pm.

“TCS was requested to confirm the availability of the adequate number of test centers, feasible for conducting the exam in a single shift on June 15, 2025. TCS responded vide email dated May 30, 2025 at 3.52 pm stating that the time available was insufficient to hold the said exam in a single shift on the scheduled exam date, i.e., June 15, 2025,” the NBE said.

TCS in a subsequent email on June 2 elaborated on the reasons in not being able to conduct the exam in a single shift and indicated the earliest possible date to conduct the exam was August 3, 2025.

Referring to some of the reasons cited by TCS, the NBE said there was a need to augment the number of centers in more cities, approximately 250 plus cities requiring the application to be reopened for all the candidates.

“Thousand plus centers shall need to be booked and engaged which will require considerable time,” it said. For a shift of 2,42,679 candidates with buffer would require an infrastructure for 2.70 lakh to be made available across the country and it needed considerable time, the NBE said.

Further, the postponement of the exam was stated to have a “multifaceted impact” extending beyond immediate disruption.

The plea argued a collaborative effort of the government authorities and the NBE was needed to enable students to navigate the “uncertain period” with “resilience and support”.

The NBE said aside from NEET-PG, it was conducting Indian Railways, several banking exams and regional exams across states in the country.

“Hence we propose to conduct this exam on August 3, in the 1st shift from 9 am to 12.30 pm,” it said.

On May 30, the top court ordered conducting the post-graduate medical entrance exam scheduled on June 15 in a single shift as two shifts created “arbitrariness” in its opinion.

The authorities were directed to make arrangements for holding NEET-PG 2025 exam in one shift and ensure transparency and identification of the secured centers.

“Any two question papers can never be said to be having an identical level of difficulty or ease,” the top court said.

Normalisation may be applied in exceptional cases but not in a routine manner year after year, it added.

The apex court passed the order on the pleas challenging a notification for holding the examination for admissions in medical courses in two shifts.

The total number of candidates was stated to be 2,42,678 with the test being held all over the country and not just in a single city.

While one of the pleas was filed through advocate Sukriti Bhatnagar, several lawyers, including advocate Tanvi Dubey, appeared in the matter.

The counsel appearing for the respondents, including the NBE, contended that even if efforts were made to identify more centers, it might need more time which might result into delay in holding the examinations.

The NBE is entrusted with the responsibility of conducting postgraduate and postdoctoral examinations in approved specialities leading to the award of Diplomate of National Board and Doctorate of National Board and Fellow of National Board.

Also read : SC directs NEET-PG 2025 exam be conducted in one shift