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Rank-based merit list to replace percentile for NEET PG: Panel to SC

By · Via Times of India · Published by Everything Blog

In short

The National Medical Commission granted in-principle approval on September 23 to adopt a rank-based merit system for both NEET-PG and NEET-Super Speciality admissions. This submission arrived during Supreme Court hearings on petitions challenging reduced 2025 cut-offs, which dropped general category marks to 103 and reserved category thresholds to minus 40. Beyond scoring adjustments, the advisory panel recommended ending compensation disparities between clinical and non-clinical resident doctors while introducing incentives for rural practice.

Key points

  • Percentile marks will no longer be declared to candidates under the newly drafted postgra…: Percentile marks will no longer be declared to candidates under the newly drafted postgraduate medical admission regulations.
  • The advisory panel insisted that minimum qualifying standards must not be diluted to admi…: The advisory panel insisted that minimum qualifying standards must not be diluted to admit candidates with negative examination scores.
  • Recommendations submitted to the court urged parity in resident doctor salaries regardles…: Recommendations submitted to the court urged parity in resident doctor salaries regardless of whether they serve in clinical branches.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

NMC gives in-principle approval to replace percentile-based NEET-PG and NEET-SS counselling with a rank-based system, under which only candidate ranks would be declared

NEW DELHI: Medical postgraduate admissions could see a major change, with the National Medical Commission (NMC) giving in-principle approval to replace the existing percentile-based system with a rank-based system for NEET-PG and NEET-Super Speciality (SS) counselling.A 12-member expert committee constituted to review the NEET-PG admission and counselling process told Supreme Court in its report on Tuesday that the commission is working on a new regulation under which only ranks would be declared and percentile marks would no longer be specified.The proposal received in-principle approval at the NMC's meeting on Sept 23, according to a letter dated Oct 1, 2026, from the NMC secretary to the director general of health services (DGHS).

The commission is yet to finalise the regulation.SC is examining various petitions challenging Centre's decision to drastically reduce the qualifying cut-off percentiles for NEET-PG 2025. Under revised criteria, the qualifying score for general category was reduced from 276 to 103, while that for SC/ST/OBC categories was…

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