Context: The Supreme Court asked the Union Government to reconsider reducing the qualifying percentile for National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test–Super Specialty (NEET-SS) after many super-specialty seats remained vacant.
NEET-SS: Entrance examination for admission to DM (Doctorate of Medicine) and MCh (Master of Chirurgiae) super-specialty courses.
Conducting authority:National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Qualifying percentile: Minimum percentile required to qualify for counselling; the government has previously reduced it, including to 0 percentile in some years.
All India Quota (AIQ): Vacant seats can be transferred to the AIQ framework, while States have also sought return of seats originally earmarked for their in-service government doctors.
Issue before SC: Whether the qualifying percentile should be reduced to prevent super-specialty medical seats from remaining vacant.
Latest development: Centre agreed to consider a “stray round” of counselling for remaining vacant NEET-SS seats but had initially opposed lowering the qualifying percentile.
