The Supreme Court on Monday cleared the decks for admissions to postgraduate and undergraduate medical and dental courses by lifting the bar on declaration of results for entrance examinations.
A three-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir modified its December 13 order, which paved the way for announcement of results for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance (NEET) test introduced by the Medical Council of India (MCI). The court order implies that all private and government colleges can announce the results for admissions for the academic year 2013-14.
“The students, who aspire to gain entry to the medical colleges at the MBBS and BDS and the postgraduate levels, have been caught in a legal tangle for no fault of theirs and are victims of policy decisions. In order to safeguard their interests, as also the interest of the hospitals, we consider it just and equitable to lift the bar imposed by us on December 13, 2012, for this year’s entrance examinations,” the court said.
“We modify our order of December 13, 2012, and allow the results of the examinations already conducted to be declared to enable the students to take advantage of the same for the current year.”
The court, however, said its judgment on the validity of the NEET would be passed in July.
Passing the interim order, the court said the fate of thousands of students cannot be allowed to hang in balance due to a legal tussle between the MCI and private medical colleges.
“We feel that students hoping to gain admission to the MBBS as well as the postgraduate courses on the strength of the results of the examinations, which have already been held and for which they had appeared, should not be denied such an opportunity, at least for this year,” the bench, also comprising justices A R Dave and Vikramjit Sen, said.