SC reserves order on pleas against NEET

The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its order on a bunch of petitions, including one from pre-university students from Karnataka, challenging the MCI’s decision to conduct National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for admissions to MBBS and BDS courses.

A three-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir concluded the hearing in the matter but gave different parties including, the Centre and Medical Council of India (MCI) to file their written submission, if any, within two days.

The students, pursuing their PUC-II year, represented by advocate G S Kannur contended that they had not studied the syllabus prescribed by the CBSE which was 30 to 35 per cent more than the one recommended at their state board.

A group of unaided medical colleges as well as religious and linguistic minority institutions, along with Christian Medical College, Vellore, wanted permission to conduct their own examination on the ground that the decision to impose NEET would tamper with their independence character.

The Centre as well as the MCI, on the other hand, contended that there have been a lot of allegations of corruption and irregularities in the examinations conducted by colleges and state boards. A uniform system of examination would not only be fair and transparent but would also save students from hassles of running from here and there to appear in different examinations, they said.

The NEET is scheduled for May 5 across the country except Karnataka where it is going to be held on May 18 due to state assembly elections. In their writ petition, the Karnataka students had urged the court to quash the notification issued by the MCI on February 15 last year and restrain the CBSE from conducting the NEET for admission to first year MBBS for the academic year 2013-2014 in Karnataka as it is violative of Article 14 of the Constitution.

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