The Supreme Court will hear a plea on Friday seeking the postponement of the NEET-PG 2024 examination.

The plea argues that candidates have been assigned exam centres in cities that are difficult for them to reach and requests the normalisation of scores.

A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra allowed to hear the plea by lawyer Anas Tanwir on Thursday.

The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) is set to conduct the exam for 2,28,542 candidates in two shifts across 416 centres in 170 cities pan-India on August 11.

The scores will be normalised.

The NEET-PG, organised by NBEMS and its technical partner TCS, has faced several controversies.

The exam was cancelled on June 22, just a day before it was originally scheduled.

The fresh controversy is now over exam centres and normalisation of scores.

In a letter, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor urged Union health minister JP Nadda on Thursday to authorise enough exam centres in every state for the NEET-PG 2024 on August 11 so that students do not have to travel thousands of kilometres and will be able to avoid the hassle of arranging affordable and safe accommodation.

Earlier, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal also raised the issue of 'impractical changes' in the examination centres of NEET-PG candidates from Kerala.

NBEMS president Dr Abhijat Sheth said on Thursday that private entrepreneur institutes have been excluded from NEET-PG 2024 exam centres for better monitoring and to minimise the risk of malpractice.

Centres identified as high-risk by TCS based on their audit have been removed from the list.

'We are relying on TCS iON centers and AICTE-affiliated institutes to conduct the exam this time for better supervision and to eliminate any possibility of malpractice.

A few private centers have been included only in areas where TCS iON or AICTE-affiliated institutes are not available,' Sheth said.

He also said that 90 percent of students have been allotted exam centres within their home states, while the remaining have been assigned centers in nearby states due to limited testing seats in their own states.

'We have ensured that the students are issued exam centres in the same state as per their given address while filling up forms, to the best extent possible,' Dr Sheth said.

NBEMS has decided to conduct the exam in two shifts, which will necessitate the normalisation of marks.

The decision to hold the exam in shifts is also aimed at reducing the distance students need to travel to reach their exam centers, Seth explained.

'Holding exams in shifts and normalising scores is a well-established and legitimate process in India.

Prestigious institutions like IITs and AIIMS have been conducting exams in multiple shifts,' Seth added.

Regarding the reassignment of exam centres on August 4, Dr Sheth said that this was due to the addition of new centres to minimise interstate travel for some candidates, following suggestions from the health ministry.