Cabinet clears ordinance to put on hold SC order on NEET for a year
NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet today cleared an ordinance to keep state boards out of the ambit of common medical entrance exams for one year.
Through the ordinance, the order of the Supreme Court on National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, NEET will be put on hold for a year. On 9th of this month, the Supreme Court had refused to modify its April 28th order making NEET mandatory for admission to undergraduate medical courses across the country for the academic year 2016-2017.
The court order had implied that all government colleges, deemed universities and private medical colleges would be covered under NEET and those examinations which had already taken place or were slated to be conducted separately stand scrapped. Major political parties and States had favoured deferring implementation of the apex court verdict.
Several State governments also wanted their exams to be the basis for admission for their 85 per cent quota for this year too. Union Health Minister J P Nadda had discussed the issue with State Health Ministers.
So far 6.5 lakh students have already sat for the first phase of NEET held on 1st of this month. The next phase of the exam is scheduled for July 24th.
