'What happens to transparency?': Supreme Court asks NBEMS why NEET-PG questions can't be disclosed
Doctors' groups want candidate-wise question papers, answer keys and response sheets released after the exam. The exam board says its limited question bank is a national asset that would be weakened by disclosure.
The Supreme Court has told the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) to explain in writing why releasing NEET-PG questions after the exam would hurt the test's integrity. The bench said the board had not yet given a convincing reason for keeping them confidential.
A bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe heard a petition by the Democratic Medical Association on Monday and adjourned the matter. It directed NBEMS to file written submissions and to explain in more detail why it should be treated differently from other national examinations that do disclose questions.
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What the petitioners want
Appearing for the petitioners, Senior Advocate Shikhil Suri said NBEMS had released the master question set and its answers, but for the other shuffled sets candidates could see only question ID numbers. The petitioners say this makes it impossible for candidates to check which questions they attempted, what they marked and how they were scored. They pointed out that exams such as JEE, CLAT and AIIMS INI-CET share candidate-wise response sheets.
The petition asks that each candidate's question paper, answer key and response sheet be uploaded to their login soon after the exam. The court had issued notice on the plea on October 15. It is being heard with petitions filed by the Federation of All India Medical Association and the United Doctors Front, which raise wider concerns about how national entrance tests are run.
The board's defence
Counsel for NBEMS argued that the postgraduate question bank is small, built by experts and should be protected as a national asset. Releasing questions, she said, would allow them to be quoted and recycled for years and could push coaching towards memorising answers rather than testing clinical judgement. She said the portal already shows question IDs, the status of each answer and the correct answers, and that many examining bodies abroad follow a non-disclosure model.
Justice Narasimha was not persuaded. He asked what happens to transparency and remarked that practices abroad are not a model for India. One counsel told the court that past NEET-PG papers were already being sold online.
Why it matters for students
NEET-PG decides admission to postgraduate medical seats for well over a lakh doctors each year, and even small errors in answer keys can change ranks. Candidates have repeatedly asked the courts for more openness in evaluation. The court's eventual ruling could set a standard for how much candidates are allowed to see after high-stakes computer-based exams across the country.
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