New Delhi: The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences issued a notification on 13 January, revising the cut-off for admission/counselling in the third round of NEET-PG 2025-26. The new list has become controversial, as the qualifying percentiles for all category candidates have been reduced significantly.
As per the revised minimum qualifying criteria, General/EWS need to be in the 7th percentile (reduced from 50th), General PwBD, or Persons with Benchmark Disabilities, in the 5th percentile (reduced from 45th), and SC/ST/OBC, including PwBD, in the 0th percentile (reduced from 40th earlier). The corresponding cut-off score for the three categories now is 103, 90, and -40 out of 800, reduced from the earlier score of 276, 255 and 235, respectively.
While a candidate’s score is calculated by how many questions they answered correctly, with negative marking for incorrect answers, the percentile is a ranking measure that shows their performance relative to others — for example, 50th percentile means a candidate performed better than 50 per cent of the candidates who took the exam.
The negative cutoff as well the significantly reduced score for other categories has drawn intense reaction on social media, with people questioning the criteria being used to admit students in medical courses.
Now a PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the notification to reduce the qualifying cut-off percentiles. The petition, filed by a social worker and a group of doctors, argues that the revised admission criterion violates Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution.
Medical associations and experts have called this a structural issue within postgraduate medical education.
“After two rounds of counselling, around 20,000 seats remained vacant, and to fill those seats, they reduced the qualifying marks, which usually doesn’t happen. The topper got 707 marks, and the person who scored minus 40 — both are now eligible for NEET-PG. Now the situation is that a candidate only has to appear for the exam to become eligible,” said Keshav Aggarwal, director of media, Coaching Federation of India, a non-profit body.
The seats are not filling because the infrastructure, the number of faculties, and related facilities are inadequate, he said, adding, “Why are AIIMS seats not vacant? Because they have better facilities, and students don’t want to go to these private colleges. To fill those seats, they are reducing the marks.”
Senior Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer Nethrapal, however, described the controversy as “a fake narrative” that targets reservation, saying the negative cut-off pertains only to non-clinical seats in private medical colleges that find little takers and remain vacant, and not top specialities such as radiology or general medicine in premier institutes. In an article, he detailed how candidates from reserved groups routinely fill top seats in the open category.
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Medical fraternity condemns decision
The medical association called this a controversial decision and condemned it.
“It is being said that this has been done to fill the seats. It [should] be clarified whether this is an exercise to fill seats in government medical colleges or increase the supply of students in private medical colleges, where seats are sold for Rs 2-3 crore, and thousands of such seats are lying vacant,” said Dr Rohan Krishnan, Chief Patron of the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA).
Dr Atul Kumar, a second-year PG student of surgery at Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Medical College and Hospital, said the government needs to come up with another way to fill vacant seats.
“Those scoring negative marks don’t deserve a seat. They won’t be able to perform well in either non-clinical or clinical medicine. This is about patients and their health,” he said, adding that if a negative score is seen as acceptable, then the government might as well fill seats with non-MBBS graduates.
In the NEET-PG exam, score and percentile mean two different things. A candidate’s number of marks is the score, which the student gets based on how many questions they answer correctly. On the other hand, the percentile shows how a candidate has performed in comparison to others.
To understand, a 50th percentile means that the candidate has scored better than 50 per cent of the students who took the same test. This is why a low score can still translate into a higher percentile, and if more students score high, the same score can push a candidate lower in the rankings. With the cut-off lowered to 0th percentile, even candidates who have performed worse than a majority of test-takers are now being allowed to qualify.
(Edited by Prashant Dixit)