Delhi High Court has refused to entertain a plea requesting double conduct of National Eligibility Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET-UG), as in Joint Entrance Examination Main (JEE Main). The plea was filed by a coach teacher stating that if more attempts are provided, the psychological burden would decrease for the students and the opportunity for scoring more will also increase. But the court held that it is government authorities’ decision to make and not the judiciary’s. 

A bench headed by Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela heard the petition but finally declined to intervene. The court laid stress on the fact that national-level entrance exams’ conduct and scheduling are administrative decisions within the domain of the government. Although taking into consideration the petitioner’s apprehensions, the bench re-emphasized that it is for the authorities to decide if NEET-UG needs to be conducted several times a year. The petitioner has been allowed the freedom to approach the relevant government authorities with his representation, nonetheless.

The petitioner based his argument on the JEE (Mains) examination, which is conducted in multiple shifts, allowing students to appear for the exam more than once in a year. He contended that such a provision helps students cope with psychological stress and provides them with an opportunity to enhance their scores. In contrast, NEET-UG, the portal to undergraduate medical courses in India, is conducted only annually, restricting candidates’ opportunities to enhance their performance. He requested the court to instruct the authorities to adopt a similar strategy for medical aspirants.

But the bench noted that there are many other competitive exams in India where the candidates are not given multiple opportunities to appear. The judges pointed out that various exams have different patterns, and it is a policy choice that the government has to make considering several factors. The court’s refusal to interfere in the issue implies that, at least for the time being, NEET-UG will remain a once-a-year exam according to the current schedule.

Meanwhile, the National Testing Agency (NTA) has come out with crucial notifications for the NEET-UG 2025 exam. The exam is to be held on May 4, 2025, and will be held in one sitting of 180 minutes, from 2 PM to 5 PM (IST). To boost accessibility for candidates, NTA has made an announcement that test-takers now have the opportunity to choose three preferred cities of their choice to appear for examinations, up from the earlier option of two choices. This alteration is likely to give more ease to candidates, especially those located in far-off places who may have to cover distance to go for the examination.

The test shall be held in 13 languages: Assamese, Bengali, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu. It shall ensure students who belong to other linguistic communities also get the chance to attempt the test in their most preferable language, which ultimately ensures the test is carried out in a most inclusive manner.

With the NEET-UG 2025 exam date officially announced, candidates from all over the country are preparing for one of the toughest entrance exams in India. The test is famous for being highly competitive in nature, with lakhs of students appearing every year for a few hundred seats in dental and medical colleges. With the level of preparation needed, most students and teachers had been expecting NEET-UG to be held twice a year, like JEE (Mains), to give them a second chance. But with the Delhi High Court not agreeing to hear the petition, it is to be seen if the government will do anything in this regard in the future.

For the time being, students will have to keep their priorities in the upcoming exam and prepare themselves for the sole shot they are going to get this year. The last-minute changes brought by NTA, like the increase in city preferences for exam centres, might provide some relief in logistics, but nothing much has changed in the exam structure. With the approaching exam date, candidates will have to keep themselves informed of any additional directives from the NTA and persist with their preparations in earnest.