Supreme Court to consider NEET exemption applications on Tuesday

The Supreme Court will hear on Tuesday a batch of applications seeking that NEET for admissions to undergraduate medical courses may not be thrust on the states and they may be allowed to conduct their own entrance examinations.

An apex court bench headed by the Chief Justice P.S. Thakur on Monday said the hearing by the special bench headed by Justice Anil R. Dave will take place on Tuesday at 2 p.m. after a battery of senior lawyers, including Gopal Subramaniam appearing for Jammu and Kashmir, and K. K. Venugopal appearing for Association of Private Medical Colleges of Karnataka mentioned the matter.

Various states, including the association of private medical colleges are aggrieved by the top court’s Friday order reiterating that admission to undergraduate medical courses will be only through National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) to be conducted by the Central Board of School Education (CBSE).

The first phase of NEET was conducted on Sunday. The second phase will be held on July 24.

In the meantime, a constitution bench of the top court on Monday upheld the Madhya Pradesh law providing for common entrance test for admission to medical courses both in government and private medical colleges.

The bench, after a majority judgement, said the admissions to the seats not filled under the management quota will be done by the state governments.

The constitution bench also set up a three member committee that will oversee the counselling and admission under the aegis of Medical Council of India till a law is enacted by parliament empowering medical regulatory body to conduct counselling and admissions. 

Former Chief Justice of India, Justice R. M. lodha, former Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai and eminent doctor Shiv Sarin are the panel members.