The Supreme Court on Monday slammed the Centre for announcing last-minute changes to the pattern of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test Post-Graduate Super Specialty (NEET SS) exam 2021.

The apex court has asked the government to hold a meeting of concerned authorities and submit a response on Oct 4 to a plea against the changes made.

The petition has been made by 41 post-graduate doctors who had challenged the abrupt changes stating that this was done to favour general medicine candidates.

In 2018, NEET SS comprised 40 per cent of the questions from general medicine and 60 per cent from super speciality.

This time, with the new changes being made, all questions are to be from general medicine.

The plea stated that while the dates of NEET-SS 2021 examination were announced on July 23 this year, the change in the pattern was made public more than a month later on Aug 31.

According to the doctors’ plea, the aspirants have been preparing for the older pattern for the past three years.

Hearing the case on Monday, the bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and BV Nagarathna day questioned the government’s hurry to implement the change in the exam pattern.

“Don’t treat these young doctors as footballs in the game of power…We can’t put these doctors at the mercy of insensitive bureaucrats…Put your house in order…Just because somebody has the power, you can’t yield the power in any manner,” Justice Chandrachud said.

The court said that students start preparing for super speciality courses “months and months” in advance and asked why the changes cannot be introduced from the following year.