Kejriwal urges Modi not to bring ordinance to overturn SC order on NEET

Though the Centre deferred uniform medical entrance examination, NEET, by a year on Friday, Delhi chief minister Kejriwal wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier in the day urging him to decide otherwise

Though the Centre deferred uniform medical entrance examination, NEET, by a year on Friday, Delhi chief minister Kejriwal wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier in the day urging him to decide otherwise. In his letter, Kejriwal stated that parents and students had welcomed NEET as it discouraged those seeking admission through donation.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him not to bring any order against the Supreme Court ruling on National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET). (Photo by Arun Sharma/Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

Any decision to not hold a common entrance test for admission to medical colleges will make people think that the Centre supported those with black money, he wrote.

“It has come to my notice that central government is bringing an ordinance to reverse the SC order. Many students have come to meet me and if central government does this, this will amount to cheating,” Kejriwal said in the letter.

“A few days ago, Union health minister JP Nadda called a meeting over the issue, where almost all health ministers opposed NEET except Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain. Many leaders and MPs run medical institutes that is why they are against NEET,” he added.

However, the Government on Friday approved promulgation of an ordinance to keep state boards out of the ambit of uniform medical entrance examination, NEET, for one academic year.

The executive order is aimed at “partially” overturning a Supreme Court verdict which said all government colleges, deemed universities and private medical colleges would be covered under NEET.

The next phase of the exam is scheduled for July 24. Nearly 6.5 lakh students have already sat for the first phase of NEET held on May 1.

Once the ordinance is issued, students of state government boards will not have to sit for NEET on July 24.

They, however, will have to become part of the uniform entrance exam from next academic session, government sources clarified.