The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain pleas seeking postponement of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET)-PG 2023, which is scheduled for March 5.

A bench of Justices S R Bhat and Dipankar Datta was informed by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the National Board of Examinations (NBE), that admit cards for the exam have been issued on Monday as per schedule and the counselling may commence from July 15.

"There is no date available in the near future with our technology partner to conduct the exam," she told the bench, which refused to entertain the two pleas.

The petitioners have sought postponement of the examination, saying the counselling has to be conducted after August 11 since the cut-off date for internship has been extended to that date.

On February 24, the NBE had told the apex court that around 2.09 lakh candidates have registered for the NEET-PG exam 2023 and no alternative date for conducting the exam may be available in the near future if it is postponed.

The NEET-PG examination will be conducted as per schedule on March 5 for those aspiring to get admission to postgraduate medical courses, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had told Lok Sabha on February 10.

To ensure that no one is left out, the ministry has extended the cut-off date for all those MBBS students who are yet to complete their internship, he had said while replying to a question by a Congress member.

The ministry had extended the cut-off date from June 30 to August 11 for the NEET-PG aspirants to complete their mandatory one-year internship.

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