Supreme Court refuses two seperate Merit List for NEET

The Supreme Court has made it clear that it will not issue any directive to either the Medical Council of India (MCI) or the Central Board of Secondary Examination (CBSE) to publish separate merit lists for CBSE students and their state board counterparts for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) held on July 24

New Delhi: The legal battle over National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test continued for another day, with the Supreme Court hearing a fresh petition filed by students demanding separate merit list for CBSE students as well as their state board counterparts.

The petition which was filed by many medical and dental aspirants, primarily from Tamil Nadu, pointed out at their inability to compete with CBSE students in NEET as their state board training did not incorporate objective type tests. Till now, students of Tamil Nadu were getting admission in medical colleges based on their class 12 marks.

Moreover, with the ordinance in place, the petition claimed high discrimination between students who would join government colleges based on the state board, and those who would be forced to compete for the rest of the seats with NEET. the petition clearly stated

The Ordinance perpetuates more discrimination among the students who have studied in State syllabus. It is submitted that especially the students from Tamil Nadu are in a disadvantageous position. For example, a Student who gets 97% will be joining Government Colleges without any exams, whereas a student gets 95% or less will have to undergo a stiffer exam in the form of NEET. Therefore in effect a student who is more brilliant and who got more marks does not have to undergo any entrance exam, whereas a student who has secured slightly lesser marks will have to suffer NEET. This is a clear discrimination and merely punitive.”

The petitioners also pleaded to the court to give directions to the MCI and the CBSE to provide a proportionate quota to students from Tamil Nadu who have followed the state syllabus and attended the NEET examinations; and publish their results in a separate merit list for this year.

The Supreme Court, however has made it clear that it will not issue any directive to either the Medical Council of India (MCI) or the Central Board of Secondary Examination (CBSE) to publish separate merit lists for CBSE students and their state board counterparts for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) held on July 24.

Having said that , a bench comprising of Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice S.K. Singh has asked the CBSE as well as the centre to respond to petitions filed by several medical and dental aspirants

The new Amending Ordinance in the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956, makes it compulsory for all private colleges to provide admissions only through NEET. The court had also issued notices to the MCI and the CBSE in this matter.