PRAYAGRAJ, Jan. 28 -- The Allahabad high court on Tuesday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the decision of the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) to allow counselling for SC/ST/OBC candidates who scored minus 40 out of 800 marks in the NEET-PG 2025. A bench comprising chief justice Arun Bhansali and justice Kshitij Shailendra dismissed the petition filed by advocate Abhinav Gaur. When the matter was taken up, the bench was informed that the Delhi high court had already dismissed a similar PIL, terming the issue a matter of policy and observing that the court had no role to play in it. The court was also told that another petition on the same issue was pending before the Supreme Court. In view of this, the high court declined to interfere. The petitioner had termed the decision unconstitutional and violative of Article 16 of the Constitution, which provides for equal opportunity in matters of public employment. The plea challenged the move on the ground that a substantial reduction in the cut-off marks for NEET-PG 2025 would undermine the sanctity of a merit-based selection process. The PIL further stated that after more than 18,000 seats remained vacant following the second round of counselling, the Board drastically lowered the qualifying criteria, fixing the cut-off at minus 40 out of 800 marks for the SC/ST/OBC category. The petition also pointed out that in the general (EWS) category, the cut-off had been reduced from 276 to 103, whereas in the general-PwBD category, it had been slashed from 255 to 90. In the SC/ST/OBC category, the same was reduced from 235 to -40, which, the PIL plea argued, would adversely impact public health and patient safety, both matters of paramount public concern that involve a high-level of academic precision, the petitioner claimed. The plea also claimed that the quality of doctors who do not have the minimum threshold to qualify for the examination would affect the right to health and life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution....