On Wednesday, February 4, 2026, the Supreme Court asked the Centre, NBEMS, National Medical Commission, and others to respond on a plea against NBEMS's decision to cut down the qualifying percentiles for NEET-PG 2025-26. A Bench of Justices P.S. Narasimha and Alok Aradhe issued notices and listed the matter for next hearing on February 6. The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences reduced the cutoff percentiles drastically due to over 18,000 vacant postgraduate medical seats across India. For reserved categories, the percentile dropped from 40 to zero, allowing candidates with very low scores, even as low as -40 out of 800, to join the third round of counselling. For the general category, the cutoff fell from 50 percentile to just 7. Petitioners Harisharan Devgan, Dr Saurav Kumar, Dr Lakshya Mittal, and Dr Akash Soni argued the cut-off change violates Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution. They said eligibility must not change after the selection process starts, as students prepare and choose careers based on original cutoffs. The petition also stated that PG medical education should not become a commercial exercise and regulators must protect standards. Many doctors and medical professionals called NBEMS’s move "unprecedented and illogical." The case will return to court on February 6 for updates.