Summary
NEET-PG 2022 aspirants sought extension of the revised internship-completion cutoff beyond 31 July 2022 or credit for Covid duties towards internship. The Court declined both requests because further extension would disrupt the admission schedule and prejudice eligible students, while curriculum changes belonged to the expert authorities. It held that individual hardship from a cutoff did not itself establish arbitrariness and dismissed the petition.
Issues
- Whether the revised NEET-PG 2022 internship cutoff required further extension to accommodate delayed internships.
- Whether the Court should direct credit for Covid duties towards internship requirements.
Provisions considered
- Article 14, Constitution of IndiaIndividual exclusion by a cutoff did not by itself establish arbitrariness; the revised date had a rational basis in the admission schedule. (¶ 9-14)
Held
- Eligibility standards and academic schedules ordinarily belong to executive and expert authorities. Judicial review remains available for plain arbitrariness or discrimination, but hardship alone does not justify substituting a judicially chosen policy. (¶ 9-13)
- Further extension beyond 31 July 2022 would disrupt the proposed educational schedule and disadvantage students already satisfying the cutoff. The authorities supplied cogent reasons for retaining the revised date despite hardship to other aspirants. (¶ 11-14)
- Directing that Covid-duty periods count towards internship would require the Court to manage the medical curriculum, a function it declined to assume. (¶¶ 8, 14)
- The earlier INI-CET postponement concerned practical and health barriers to conducting an examination during lockdown. Its different factual basis did not require alteration of this eligibility cutoff. (¶ 15)
Result
Article 32 petition dismissed; pending applications, if any, disposed of. No further extension or judicially directed internship credit was granted.