Empty BDS seats: Dental Council of India reduces NEET 2019 Cutoff for Dental Admissions

Mumbai: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and the Dental Council of India (DCI) has lowered the cut off percentile or qualifying marks for NEET 2019 candidates who intend to take admission to BDS Course for the academic session 2019-20.

The information to this effect came via a recent notice uploaded by the Dental Education section of the MoHFW informing all the Health/Medical Education Secretary and Director of Medical Education of all the States/UT, Registrar of the University having dental colleges affiliated to them and all the Dental Colleges running BDS Course in the Country stated in the letter:

The GOI, in consultation with DCI vide its letter No.V.12025/143/2019-DE dated 06.09.2019 and corrigendum dated 06.09.2019 has conveyed its approval to lower down the qualifying cut-off percentile for NEET (UG) - 2019 by 10.00 percentile for each category only for the academic session 2019-20 for admission to BDS Course. This percentile has been lowered down in terms of Clause (b) of Chapter 6: Merit List and Qualifying Criteria of the Information Bulletin for NEET (UG) - 2019. The qualifying percentiles, after having lower down, for NEET (UG) - 2019 for admissions to BDS Course for the academic session 2019-20 is as under:-

S.No.	Category	Qualifying Percentile
1	General	40
2	SC/ST/OBC	30
3	General candidates with BenchMark Disabilities specified under the Right of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016	35

Clause (b) of Chapter 6: Merit List and Qualifying Criteria of the NEET 2019 information bulletin clearly states:

Provided when sufficient number of candidates in the respective categories fail to secure minimum marks as prescribed in National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test held for any academic year for admission to MBBS/BDS Courses, the Central Government in consultation with Medical Council of India and Dental Council of India may at its discretion lower the minimum marks required for admission to MBBS/BDS Courses for candidates belonging to respective categories and marks so lowered by the Central Government shall be applicable for the said academic year only.

Therefore, the National Testing Agency (NTA) has been directed by the ministry to release a revised result in accordance with the lowered cutoff percentile for the academic session of 2019-2020.