E-Paper
SC closes petitions on NEET-SS after Centre postpones new exam pattern for 2022-23
The dramatic turnaround by the Centre came a day after the Court made caustic remarks against the Centre and NBE for hurrying with the new examination pattern without giving sufficient time for doctors to prepare. The revised scheme of NEET-SS tested candidates on questions from just one broad specialty course in General Medicine.
The Centre on Wednesday rolled back its decision to hold the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to medical super specialty courses under the modified examination pattern announced on August 31. The 2021 examination, due in November will now be held in January 2022 under the old pattern being followed by the National Board of Examinations (NBE) since 2018.
This was informed to the Supreme Court on Wednesday which is examining a challenge by 41 post graduate doctors who have raised a constitutional challenge against the revised examination pattern introduced from academic year 2021-22.
Appearing for the Centre, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati gave a statement that “having regard to the interest of the body of students who would have commenced preparations for the ensuing NEET - SS examination before the change in the pattern was notified, a decision has been taken by the Union government in consultation with the National Medical Commission (NMC) and the National Board of Examinations (NBE) to give effect to the modified pattern only from the academic year 2022-2023.”
Since this was the limited relief that the petitioner doctors had urged for, the bench of Justices Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, Vikram Nath and BV Nagarathna said, “Since the Union government and the expert bodies have taken a decision to hold the ensuing NEET – SS examinations for 2021-2022 on the basis of the pattern which held the field until academic year 2020-2021, it is not necessary for this Court to adjudicate upon the validity of the modified pattern proposed for 2022-2023… In the circumstances, the petitions under Article 32 of the Constitution are disposed of.”
Advocate Prashant Bhushan appearing in a fresh petition filed by a group of doctors preparing for the NEET-SS 2021told the Court that the issues of challenge against the revised pattern should be kept open as the same would be enforced from next year. The bench agreed to the suggestion and stated in its order, “That issue (with regard to modified examination pattern for 2022-23) is kept open.”
The dramatic turnaround by the Centre came a day after the Court made caustic remarks against the Centre and NBE for hurrying with the new examination pattern without giving sufficient time for doctors to prepare. The revised scheme of NEET-SS tested candidates on questions from just one broad specialty course in General Medicine. Under the old scheme, only 40% questions came from General Medicine while the bulk of questions tested the candidates on their knowledge about the super specialty course that they applied for.
The petitioners before the Court had submitted that since clinical practice was required under the old scheme prevailing since 2018, most doctors had spent years to acquire knowledge in their specialization and get admission into the respective stream offered under Doctorate of Medicine (DM), Master of Surgery (MCh) and Doctorate of National Board (DrNB). More than 4200 seats in these three categories are filled up each year through NEET-SS.
The Centre argued that the change in NEET-SS pattern was done with a view to reduce wastage of SS seats in private and government medical colleges. On Tuesday, the top court said that the efforts of the Centre seems to be to fill vacant seats, hinting that regulation of medical education too had become a business to help private medical colleges fill up their seats. The Court even called for breakup of how many seats remain unfilled in government and private colleges.
ASG Bhati informed the Court on Wednesday that out of 805 vacant super specialty seats reported in 2020, 561 were in private colleges. There are 414 colleges offering the super specialty course of which 296 are private-owned and 118 are run by government. She further informed the Court that the Centre will require two months to conduct the examination as the whole process has to be reworked.
In an affidavit filed on October 1, the Centre had indicated that the stakeholders – Centre, NBE and NMC had agreed to defer the November 13-14 examination by two months to January 10-11 but with the modified pattern in place. The bench had given a day’s time for the Centre to put its house in order and consider revising its decision warning that if no decision is taken, the “hands of the law are very long”, hinting at the possibility of a stay order by the Court on the new pattern for this year.
