Delhi HC denies interim relief to Army doctors for NEET PG 2026 exam

The Delhi High Court dismissed petitions from two Army Medical Corps officers seeking to appear for the NEET PG 2026 exam. The court upheld the Armed Forces Tribunal's decision, refusing to suspend the new 2025 Training Rules for their benefit.

The Delhi High Court has refused to grant interim relief to two Army Medical Corps officers who sought permission to apply for and appear in the NEET PG 2026 examination, holding that such relief would effectively suspend the operation of the Armed Forces Medical Services' 2025 Training Rules while the challenge to those rules is still pending before the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT).

A vacation bench of Justices Mini Pushkarna and Vinod Kumar dismissed separate writ petitions challenging the AFT's orders refusing them interim relief. The High Court held that it found no error in the AFT's orders and dismissed the petitions along with the pending applications.

Petitioners' Challenge to New Rules

The petitioners had challenged the validity of the 2025 Training and Professional Progression Rules for Medical/Non-Technical Officers of the Armed Forces Medical Services, under which the eligibility period for Short Service Commission (SSC) officers to apply for postgraduate medical courses was reduced from 4-10 years of service to 4-7 years. They contended that under the earlier 2018 Training Rules, they were entitled to appear for NEET PG until completing 10 years of service and sought permission to submit their applications before the June 30 deadline.

Union of India's Counter-Argument

Opposing the petitions, the Union of India argued that the 2025 Rules had been notified in November 2025 and were already in force. It also submitted that even if the petitioners ultimately succeeded in their challenge before the AFT, they would still be eligible to appear for the examination until 2028 under the earlier rules.

High Court's Observations and Ruling

The High Court observed that both officers had entered service in 2017 and 2018 respectively and had become eligible to appear in NEET PG after completing four years of service. It noted that they had opportunities to take the examination from 2022 and 2023 onwards.

The bench further noted that the AFT had already recorded that the petitioners had either chosen not to apply earlier or had failed to secure admission in the examination process. It agreed with the Tribunal's finding that merely challenging the policy did not establish a prima facie case for interim relief.

The Court held that since the 2025 Training Rules are presently in operation, granting the relief sought would effectively suspend their operation even before the Tribunal decides the challenge on merits, which would not be appropriate. The bench also took note that the matter is already listed before the AFT on August 28, 2026, and observed that if the petitioners ultimately succeed in their challenge, they would still have time to appear in the NEET PG examination till 2028 under the earlier regime.

Finding no merit in the writ petitions, the High Court dismissed them. (ANI)

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