Tag: National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test

  • OBC, EWS quotas: SC asks Centre to put NEET-PG counselling on hold

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Centre assured the Supreme Court on Monday that the counselling process of NEET-PG will not commence till the top court decides the challenge to 27 per cent reservation for OBC and 10 per cent for EWS category in PG All India Quota seats (MBBS/BDS and MD/MS/MDS) from the current academic session.

    A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and B V Nagarathna recorded the assurance given by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) K M Nataraj, appearing for the Centre, and observed that students will be in serious problem if the counselling process goes ahead as scheduled.

    The assurance by Nataraj was given after senior advocate Arvind Dattar, appearing for some NEET candidates, mentioned that as per the schedule announced by the Director General of Health Services, the counselling process for the NEET-PG is to commence from October 25.

    He said that by the time the court decides the pending batch of petitions, challenging the July 29 notification, introducing the reservation from academic year, the entire process of admission will be over and serious prejudice would be caused to the students.

    Nataraj said the communication which counsel for petitioner is referring to was sent only to the medical colleges for verification of seats and one more clarificatory notification has been issued on Monday.

    “The counselling process will not begin till the court decides the pending batch of petitions,” the ASG submitted.

    The bench said that it is taking the word on record.

    “We will take your word on record that counselling process will not start till we decide the batch of petitions one way or the other. You know, students will be in serious problem, if the process continues,” the bench said.

    Nataraj agreed with the observation of the court and said that if there is any problem at all in the future, the petitioner’s counsel can contact him directly.

    On October 21, the top court had asked the Centre whether it would like to revisit the limit of rupees eight lakh annual income, fixed for determining the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) category for reservation in NEET admissions for medical courses.

    The top court had clarified that it is not embarking into the policy domain but is only trying to ascertain whether constitutional principles have adhered or not.

    It had asked the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and the Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT) to file their affidavits in a week’s time and had formulated questions to be answered by the Centre.

    The top court had said, “Tell us if you want to revisit the criteria or not. If you want us to discharge our duties, then we are ready to do so. We are formulating questions which you need to answer them”.

    It had added, “We may stay the government notification fixing rupees eight lakh criteria for determining the EWS and you can keep filing the affidavits”.

    The top court was hearing a batch of pleas challenging the Centre and Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) July 29 notice providing 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Class (OBC) and 10 per cent for EWS category in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) admissions for medical courses.

    It had asked searching questions from Centre, and asked whether any exercise was undertaken before fixing a limit of Rs 8 lakh annual income for determining the EWS category.

    It had said the court is not going to tell the government as to what should be the limit whether it should be rupees four lakh or rupees six lakh because it is for the executive to decide but all it wants to know is on what basis Rs.8 lakh criteria was fixed.

    “For determining creamy layer in Other Backward Classes (OBC) category the limit was fixed as Rs 8 lakh annual income and they were considered progressed class among OBCs and they were excluded from reservation benefits. Here, for the EWS category, the limit is the same Rs 8 lakh annual income but it was for inclusion in the reservation benefits,” the top court had said.

    On October 7, the top court had posed searching questions to the Centre on its decision to fix a limit of rupees eight lakh annual income for determining the EWS category for reservation in NEET admissions.

    The Centre had then said fixing a limit of Rs eight lakh annual income for the EWS category is a matter of policy based on the National Cost of Living Index.

    On September 17, the top court has agreed to hear a batch of pleas of students against the July 29 notice providing 27 per cent reservation for OBC and 10 per cent for EWS category in 15 per cent UG and 50 per cent PG All India Quota seats (MBBS/BDS and MD/MS/MDS) with effect from the current academic session 2021-22.

  • ‘For one per cent candidates, entire system cannot be put on hold’: SC rejects petition to delay NEET 

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to defer the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET)-UG examination, scheduled for September 12, saying it does not want to interfere with the process and it will be unfair to reschedule it.

    A bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar said if students wanted to appear in multiple exams, then they needed to prioritise and make a choice, as there might never be a situation where everyone is satisfied with the date of exams.

    “The arguments which you (counsel for petitioners) are canvassing may not be relevant for 99 per cent candidates. For one per cent candidates, the entire system cannot be put on hold,” the bench said.

    The bench said the respective boards would do their job and the court would not interfere with exams in such a situation.

    It said deferment of exams might affect the next course and the whole thing would be prolonged.

    “It will be very unfair to reschedule the examination. NEET is a very large examination. It is not state-wise, it is a nation-wide exam,” the bench said.

    Notice on reservation plea

    The Supreme Court also issued notice on a petition challenging the decision of the Central Government to implement 27% OBC and 10% EWS reservations in the All India Quota category of NEET admissions for medical courses.

    A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Vikram Nath and Hima Kohli issued notice in the petition, which also seeks to quash the notification of July 29 for providing the implementation of the reservation policy.

    The petition had sought a stay on the effect and operation of the notification and for issuing directions for the constituting committee of experts to examine modalities relating to the current reservation policy.

  • In a first, NEET-UG to be conducted in 13 languages including Punjabi and Malayam, exam centre opened in Kuwait

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: In a first, medical entrance exam NEET-UG will be conducted in 13 languages with Punjabi and Malayam being the new additions, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced on Tuesday.

    He also said that a new exam centre for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) has been opened in Kuwait to facilitate the Indian student community in the Middle East.

    “Registrations for the NEET(UG) 2021 has started on http://ntaneet.nic.in from 5:00 pm today. For the first time in the history of NEET(UG) exam and in order to facilitate the Indian student community in the middle east, an examination centre has been opened in Kuwait,” he tweeted.

    “The NEET(UG) 2021 will be for the first time conducted in 13 languages with new addition of Punjabi and Malayalam,” Pradhan said.

    The languages which are now being offered are Hindi, Punjabi, Assamese, Bengali, Odia, Gujarati, Marathi, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil, Urdu and English, he said.

    The Minister had on Monday announced that the NEET which was earlier scheduled on August 1 will now be conducted on September 12.

    The number of cities where examination is conducted will be increased from 155 to 198.

    The number of examination centres will also be increased from 3,862 used in the 2020.

    Last year, it was conducted on September 13 amid strict precautions in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    A total of 13.66 lakh candidates had appeared in the exam of whom 7,71,500 qualified.

  • Time for single NEET exam again, will be pen-and-paper affair

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test would be conducted only once this year and it would be a pen-and-paper affair.

    An earlier proposal to hold an online test twice for admissions to medical and dental colleges would not be implemented this year.

    The decision follows a meeting between officials of the Union health ministry and the National Testing Agency, the nodal body tasked with conducting NEET, on Wednesday last.

    Stating that the decision not to tinker with the test pattern was taken to ease the pressure off students reeling under the pandemic, an official said: “An online test may also prove disadvantageous for the students from rural areas.”

    The NTA would release the examination schedule and brochure in two-three days after a final date is decided.

    The test is likely to be held either in late June or July.

    Earlier, after deciding to hold the Joint Entrance Examination (Main) for engineering admissions four times this year, officials had proposed to conduct NEET twice for the first time to ease the pressure to perform their best in one attempt off students.

    The proposal was approved by the medical education department of the health ministry but now may be implemented starting next year.

  • Two arrested in Indore for cheating NEET aspirants of Rs 5 crore

    By ANI
    INDORE: Indore Special Task Force (STF) arrested two people for allegedly cheating National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) aspirants of Rs 5 crore on the promise of securing them MBBS seats, a police official said on Sunday.

    As per Manish Khatri, Superintendent of Police, STF, the two accused arrested from Mumbai, had cheated multiple people in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

    “One Ajay Kumar Jain filed a complaint in January 2018 that the two accused had cheated him of Rs 19,70,000 under the guise of securing a seat for his daughter in a government medical college. We had filed a complaint and the investigation was on. We received information that the accused were in Mumbai and sent a unit there to arrest them. Both the accused have been arrested,” he said

    The SP said that during the course of the investigation, one more person lodged a complaint against the same accused whom he allegedly cheated of Rs 13 lakh.

    “They have also cheated people in Rajasthan. Prima facie, it seems that they have cheated people of around Rs 5 crore. We have taken them into custody and are investigating the case. They had one more accomplice whom we were searching for and found that he’s serving a sentence in a Punjab jail in another case. We are also trying to take him on remand,” Khatri added.