SC allows NTA to conduct another NEET-UG on May 20

The Supreme Court on Friday allowed the National Testing Agency to conduct another National Eligibility cum Entrance Test- UG on May 20 for admission to MBBS course in medical colleges for the candidates who could not appear due to the delayed running of Hampi Express in Bengaluru on the scheduled date of examinations on May 5.

A bench of Justices S A Bobde and S Abdul Nazeer granted permission to the NTA to hold the test, also for the candidates affected by 'Fani' cyclone in seven cities in Odisha, and one college in Siliguri in West Bengal.

“We allow the applicants to conduct the NEET (UG), 2019 on 20.05.2019 in seven cities of Orissa, Bengaluru (Karnataka) and Siliguri (West Bengal),” the bench said.

The NTA, through CBSE, approached the court for a declaration of the combined result for both the test – one held on May 5 and another scheduled on May 20.

In Odisha, 54 centres could not hold the NEET due to the cyclone Fani.

The government had already announced the test for the affected candidates, including over 500 students from various parts of North Karnataka, who missed the NEET exam due to the late arrival of Hampi express.

The NTA took the court's formal permission in terms of the judgement delivered on November 22, 2018 in 'T K Rangrajan and others', wherein it was directed to adopt a dual translation approach to remove any chance of ambiguity in the question paper.