Tweet
The first ever single window national entrance test for MBBS and postgraduate admissions in the country looks all set to be a reality next year after the Centre’s attempt to defer it by a year got shot down by Supreme Court on Friday.
The Court found no reason to entertain requests put forth by Union Health Ministry and Medical Council of India (MCI) to defer the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for under-graduate and postgraduate courses (also common entrance test (CET for MBBS courses) to 2012-13 citing practical problems. Both the Centre and MCI were heard before the Court had passed an order giving the green signal for NEET.
Seeing the Centre’s flip-flop, the bench of Justices HL Dattu and CK Prasad refused to be dragged into the controversy. It said, “We will not be a party to postponement of these regulations…You better start preparations to implement it from 2012-13. We will not allow you to postpone.”
The Ministry’s application read as follows: “The conduct of Under Graduate National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (UG-NEET) is a Herculean task which requires great deal of preparation and for paucity of time it is practically impossible to resolve the issues raised by various State Governments and hold the UG-NEET in 2012.”
The application cited the various objections raised by States, for instance, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa willing to join the national test from 2013-14, Andhra Pradesh seeking an exemption of two years, Kerala demanding its reservation policies to be kept intact, Assam disputing with criteria for minimum marks, West Bengal for inclusion of Bengali language as a medium for conduct of the said examination and Puducherry wanting exemption from the NEET.
The bench dismissed the Centre’s demand and allowed MCI to withdraw its application. However, the option of rescinding the guidelines for NEET is still open as the Government could still by issuing a notification withdraw its decision to hold a common test to enable lakhs of medical aspirants to apply for medical seats across the country through a single window test instead of appearing for 26 exams. Through the NEET, admissions to 15 per cent all India quota and 85 per cent state quota seats in MBBS courses.
Earlier, the difference of views within the Government on this issue was evident in the SC last week when opposed to Health Ministry application, the Central Bureau of Secondary Education (CBSE) filed an application seeking permission to conduct the test from next academic year.
The Court found no reason to entertain requests put forth by Union Health Ministry and Medical Council of India (MCI) to defer the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for under-graduate and postgraduate courses (also common entrance test (CET for MBBS courses) to 2012-13 citing practical problems. Both the Centre and MCI were heard before the Court had passed an order giving the green signal for NEET.
Seeing the Centre’s flip-flop, the bench of Justices HL Dattu and CK Prasad refused to be dragged into the controversy. It said, “We will not be a party to postponement of these regulations…You better start preparations to implement it from 2012-13. We will not allow you to postpone.”
The Ministry’s application read as follows: “The conduct of Under Graduate National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (UG-NEET) is a Herculean task which requires great deal of preparation and for paucity of time it is practically impossible to resolve the issues raised by various State Governments and hold the UG-NEET in 2012.”
The application cited the various objections raised by States, for instance, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa willing to join the national test from 2013-14, Andhra Pradesh seeking an exemption of two years, Kerala demanding its reservation policies to be kept intact, Assam disputing with criteria for minimum marks, West Bengal for inclusion of Bengali language as a medium for conduct of the said examination and Puducherry wanting exemption from the NEET.
The bench dismissed the Centre’s demand and allowed MCI to withdraw its application. However, the option of rescinding the guidelines for NEET is still open as the Government could still by issuing a notification withdraw its decision to hold a common test to enable lakhs of medical aspirants to apply for medical seats across the country through a single window test instead of appearing for 26 exams. Through the NEET, admissions to 15 per cent all India quota and 85 per cent state quota seats in MBBS courses.
Earlier, the difference of views within the Government on this issue was evident in the SC last week when opposed to Health Ministry application, the Central Bureau of Secondary Education (CBSE) filed an application seeking permission to conduct the test from next academic year.
